VivaBarnesLaw
Politics • Culture • News
This is the VivaBarnesLaw Community.
Interested? Want to learn more about the community?
April 10, 2023

Per a request by @MightyPaix here is the commentary I posted during the Sunday lifestream, providing some background on the AK-47 and AR-15. This post is rearranged slightly for easier reading, and I added some more relevant info.

1) What is an AK-47?
The original AK-47 was developed by Mikhail Kalashnikov (who was a tank commander during the war) and was called the Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947 (so automatic Kalashnikov 1947). At that time new weapons were often designated by the year of approval and this is the reason for the "47." The design was updated soon after, and most rifles built in the Soviet Union were actually the updated AKM. Funny enough, they didn't build very many of the actual AK-47.

The design was influenced by the German StG 44 and both rifles appear similar enough that StG 44s are often mistaken for AK-47s in historical photos. Tip: if the photo is of Russians during WWII, they're carrying captured German rifles. Also, Brad Pitt carries one in the movie Fury.

2) Design and patents
Just like with the famous AR-15, the patents on the operating mechanism expired forever ago therefore lots of companies make their own versions of both these rifles, including in the US. They are often referred to as "AK" (instead of "AK-47" ) because these modern rifles use the same essential mechanism but aren't historical reproductions of the actual rifle. In the industry this is called a "pattern" so they are "AK pattern rifles."

AK pattern rifles are popular with some gun owners due to the increased reliability of the gas-piston system over the direct-impingement system used in the AR pattern.

3) Ammunition
The rifle was designed to fire 7.62x39mm ammunition (basically a low powered .30 caliber) and that's still the most common in civilian use. The Russian military swtiched to a new cartridge (5.45x39mm) and a new version of the rifle, designated the AK-74. Current AK rifles are available for the 7.62x39mm cartridge, the US standard 5.56x45mm NATO (like the AR-15), as well as other cartridges.

The 7.62x39mm round is very tapered, so ejection is much more reliable than the AR. The extreme curve of the magazine is created by the large taper of the cartridges. Ammunition is cheap and you can even buy steel-cased ammo from Russia (or, you could before the sanctions).

The 7.62x39mm is also more powerful than the 5.56x45mm NATO round of the AR. For reference, here are some general approximations:
.30-06 (US M1 Garand rifle, WWII) - 3,900 joules of kinetic energy
7.62x51mm NATO (US M14 rifle) - 3,400 joules
7.62x39mm (AK-47, AKM) - 2,200 joules
5.56x45mm NATO (US M16, AR-15) - 1,800 joules
These numbers vary widely based on barrel length, cartridge loading, etc. But you get the point - the scary AR is firing a cartridge less than half as powerful as the standard for WWII.

4) Legality
The legality of both types are the same, as they are currently sold in the US market. Just like the AR rifles, civilian versions of the AK are semi-auto only unless you have a special license.

"Assault weapon" bans include all of the AK pattern rifles in their list of guns to ban, and legally they are treated the same as an AR-15. From a practical legal standpoint, the only difference between the two is the standard AK round isn't commonly manufactured in the US so it's easier to cut off the ammo supply to the public by banning ammunition imports.

Keep in mind there are other rifle design patterns so not all rifles that fire these cartridges are AK or AR type rifles. For example, H&K makes a popular line of rifles that use the same magazines as the AR but are not AR rifles - although they have the same mounting rails so they can carry the same accessories. Every scary black rifle isn't an AR.

If you want to learn more, pick up a copy of The Gun by C.J. Chivers, which is about the development of the AK-47 but also discusses the development of the M16 (the military designation for the full-auto version of the AR-15).

(Note for future arguments: firearm ballistics is one of the most contentious subjects on earth, made worse by the fact that it's not really legal to test guns by shooting people. Take everything said by everyone, including me, with a grain of salt).

Interested? Want to learn more about the community?
What else you may like…
Videos
Podcasts
Posts
Articles
The whippersnappers are amazing!

I am going back to that CVS and I’m going to buy the entire display!

the snap rate is virtually 100%! And they snap against people’s backs!

00:02:18
Megalodon tooth hunting

It’s finally happening

00:00:28
Comey coverup complete

There it is. Enjoy!

00:10:53
February 17, 2024
Appearance on Richard Syrette

I did a quick hit on Richard Syrette yesterday. Gotta keep Canadians apprised of the U.S. madness.

Appearance on Richard Syrette
The Barnes Brief, Podcast Format: Monday, July 17, 2023

Closing Argument: Birthright citizenship is deeply American, and wholly Constitutional.

The Barnes Brief, Podcast Format: Monday, July 17, 2023
Declaration of Independence

Audio podcast style.

Declaration of Independence
Board Poll: Movie Choice, Runoff

Pick your favorite and we'll watch with open live chat at 9 pm eastern.

post photo preview
Board Poll: Saturday Movie

Pick your favorite, and top-3 will compete in a runoff to watch tonight with open live chat at 9 pm eastern. July 4th themed films.

post photo preview
The Barnes Brief: July 4, 2025

I.  Schedule

  • Saturday 9 pm eastern: Movie July 4th Theme
  • Sunday 6 pm eastern: Viva & Barnes Law for the People

II.  Art of the Day

A pickup truck. By the beach. Our flag flowing in the wind. The center of summer. The celebration of American independence. The spirit of the 4th.The simplest joys partake, in backyard barbecues & flowing fireworks into the night sky. All for the liberty, freedom, and individuality unleashed by the American spirit that sentinel 4th of July, birthing a revolution of spirit around the world. America's Independence Day. 

III. Wisdom of the Day

"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor." Declaration of Independence, 1776. 

IV. Book Recommendation

Declaration: The Nine Tumultous Weeks details the inside story of how the American revolution was anything but inevitable, birthed by the struggles of men and women willing to risk it all for a new cry for freedom and self-governance that will replace the royalists forever more. 

V.  News of the Week

  1. Big Beautiful Bill Passes
  2. Medicaid Cut Debate
  3. Socialist Rises
  4. Jobs Jump
  5. Democratic Disarray

*Bonus: Proud to be an American

VI.  Topic of the Week: American Independence

  1. Patrick Henry
  2. Adams
  3. Reagan
  4. MLK
  5. Fredrick Douglass

*Bonus: Webster

VII. Cases of the Week

  1. Judicial Coup Continues
  2. Diddy Verdict
  3. Big Beautiful Bill
  4. SCOTUS: TransSpeech
  5. Wisconsin: Politics & Judges

*Bonus: Coercion defense

VIII. Closing Argument: Our Eternal Oath

  • The American Revolution. The Declaration of Independence. July 4th, 1776.
  • A new doctrine of legitimacy for the exercise of state power. Henceforth, legitimate government depended upon the consent of the governed. This was because each individual held “the separate and equal station” by the logic of natural law — “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them.” This thus further entitled them “to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth” whenever made necessary by the conditions of their government. 
  • The eternal truths of the ends of government remained the same truths as God ordained, reason entitled, and nature spoke: the “self-evident truths” included that “all men are created equal” and as such endowed by their Creator “with certain unalienable Rights” of the right to life, the right to liberty, and the right to the pursuit of happiness. This, and this alone, is the reason for government — “to secure these rights.” Security wasn't for physical safety but rather for liberty -- security measured by respect for the right to liberty, the right to life, and the right to the pursuit of happiness. Thereby, wherever and whenever government “becomes destructive” toward the right to life, the right to liberty, and the right to the pursuit of happiness, then the self-evident right endowed by the Creator, and his creations in nature and reason, entitles “the people” to alter such government, abolish such government, and to, in their place, “institute new Government.”
  • The conservative counter to the radicalism inherent in the right of revolution was to temper such revolutionary spirit that “long established” forms of government only be changed for causes neither “light” nor “transient.” It is only upon a “long train of abuses and usurpations” that would reduce them to despotism that it becomes their “duty” to “throw off such Government” and provide better “Guards for their future security.”
  • The founders then laid out the evidentiary pleadings for their right to revolt, noting the dilution of the people’s right to pass laws on its behalf, the corruption of the judiciary from enforcing the laws impartially, and the rogue executive ignoring the invasion from within and without. This breach of forms bred results undesired and insecure to the people, including standing armies invading homes without cause, bureaucratic expansion that “sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance”, subject Americans to “a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws”, with “mock Trials” held by partial jurors away from the community of the judged, taxes without consent, unwarranted drafts into forced military service against their own people, and leaving borders unprotected from merciless dangers, while all petitions for redress of these grievances went unanswered and unaddressed. This left no choice but to declare our independence, rooting our government in both conservative claims and radical revolutionary aims, restoring power to the people our Creator endowed with inalienable rights which appeal to nature and reason — the archives of nature and the rights of man as God’s forensic fingerprint on the nature of man and earth alike. 
  • It is thus we must again renew the oath — “for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” 
Read full Article
post photo preview
Barnes Brief: Friday, June 27, 2025

Schedule

  • Friday at 6 eastern: Betting w/ Barnes
  • Saturday at 9 eastern: Movie Night 
  • Sunday at 6 eastern: Law for the People w/ Viva

Art of the Day: The Water Fountain. To make the simple, elegant; the functional, expressive; the accessible, ideal. Decorative arts charm the mind by turning the ordinary into extraordinary, the everyday into an otherworldly invitation. This form of decorative arts remakes our material world into an ethereal paradise of the mind evoking the God shaped spark of the soul for a task as mundane as getting a sip of water. 

Book Recommendation History rhymes. The last effort of the Deep State to regime change in Iran birthed us the current regime. The Coup: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13586980-the-coup?

Wisdom of the Day: “A passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter, without adequate inducement or justification.” George Washington, Farewell Address. 

 

Only for Supporters
To read the rest of this article and access other paid content, you must be a supporter
Read full Article
post photo preview
The Barnes Brief: Friday, June 20, 2025

Schedule

Past Appearances

  • Barnes & Baris:
    placeholder
  • Barnes, Viva & Duran on Iran War:
    placeholder
  • Barnes & GoodLawgic:
    placeholder

Planned Appearances

  • Friday at 9: Betting w/ Barnes AMA
  • Saturday Movie at 9 pm eastern: TBD
  • Sunday Law for the People w/ Viva at 6 pm eastern

Art of the Day: Bansky, the infamous anonymous muralist, whose famed art appears overnight in hot spots around the globe, eviscerates war propaganda with the brilliant contrasting images of his Bombs with Babies. Gets the point across with elegant efficacy. The only certainty with war is horror awaits someone, somewhere. A bias toward NO tenders out universal humanitarianism.

Book Recommendation: The Achilles Trap: The Iraq War.  Riddled with incompetency, the decisions at each stage backfired in our Mideastern war politics, summed up as we “failed to grasp critical nuances” of the enemy.

Wisdom of the Day: “But America goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy…. America well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign Independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force. The frontlet upon her brow would no longer beam with the ineffable splendor of Freedom and Independence; but in its stead would soon be substituted an Imperial Diadem, flashing in false and tarnished lustre the murky radiance of dominion and power. She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit.” John Quincy Adams.

 

Only for Supporters
To read the rest of this article and access other paid content, you must be a supporter
Read full Article
See More
Available on mobile and TV devices
google store google store app store app store
google store google store app tv store app tv store amazon store amazon store roku store roku store
Powered by Locals