News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Colt is ending production of AR-15s by tptacek on Thursday September 19, 2019 @08:48PM (#21022250)
I don't think it's reasonable to base public policy on a caricature of one faction. Issues are resolvable on their merits. You can find noisy factions on every issue saying stupid things; we can't freeze up as a result, generating a sort of inadvertent heckler's veto.

But actually none of this matters on HN. The interesting question HN is what the policy should be, not what the dumbest people in America advocating for that policy are saying. We're not actually going to impact gun policy at all here, so we might as well free ourselves to discuss it rationally.

Re:Colt is ending production of AR-15s by dsr_ on Friday September 20, 2019 @06:24AM (#21025053)
If we were discussing it rationally, we would have to acknowledge that the firearms industry loves bans on features and accessories, because they get to increase sales through replacements, new innovations and fear.

Announce a ban on pink magazines to take effect at the beginning of next year, and sales of pink magazines will rise; American Rifleman will run articles comparing the effectiveness of various color choices; Guns and Ammo will have a feature on 20 pink magazines you should buy before the ban; and sales of colored tape will rise in two different ways: pink tape will be applied to drab magazines -- "less than 35% coverage, so it's legal!" -- and black tape will be applied to pink magazines -- "More than 80% coverage when inserted, so it's legal, but when we finally defeat the irrational ban, you can take it right off!"

Re:Colt is ending production of AR-15s by tptacek on Friday September 20, 2019 @12:43PM (#21028652)
I don't understand how the marketing goals of firearms manufacturers should influence firearms policy.
Re:Colt is ending production of AR-15s by dsr_ on Saturday September 21, 2019 @07:24AM (#21034660)
Should or does? I'm not arguing that they should, only that they do.