As for the other enumerated military‐style features—such as the flash suppressor,
protruding grip, and barrel shrouds—New York and Connecticut have determined,
as did the U.S. Congress, that the “net effect of these military combat features is
a capability for lethality—more wounds, more serious, in more victims—far beyond
that of other firearms in general, including other semiautomatic guns.” Indeed,
plaintiffs explicitly contend that these features improve a firearm’s “accuracy,”
“comfort,” and “utility.” This circumlocution is, as Chief Judge Skretny observed,
a milder way of saying that these features make the weapons more deadly.
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