This is a serious question. I can’t for the life of me think why anyone would need what is essentially a machine gun. Handguns or hunting rifles I can understand. But AKs etc?
jimmy f; yes, but TVs and cars have a specific purpose, ie to entertain/provide transport. An assault rifle has one purpose, to kill people. Lots of them. So why do you need one?
trigunmarksman; I wonder if the US troops being shot at in Iraq would agree that a well armed society is a good thing?

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stories of crimes involving the use of assault rifles. Handguns, yes, but rarely an assault rifle. But my memory isn’t infallible. If you know of some, please tell me, or give me a site that lists them.

This arose because I thought the amount of effort spent debating about banning assault rifles was disproportionate to their actual use in crimes, including crazy shooting sprees. So for the purposes of this question, please do not include hunting rifles or shotguns. That’s a larger question.

Thanks.

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stories of crimes involving the use of assault rifles. Handguns, yes, but rarely an assault rifle. But my memory isn’t infallible. If you know of some, please tell me, or give me a site that lists them.

This arose because I thought the amount of effort spent debating about banning assault rifles was disproportionate to their actual use in crimes, including crazy shooting sprees. So for the purposes of this question, please do not include hunting rifles or shotguns. That’s a larger question.

Thanks.

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Why then the rush to purchase guns and ammo? What kinds of weapons are people buying? Hunting rifles, military spec weapons, what and why?

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With hunting rifles being the only type of weapons still allowed.

I always hear conservatives claim we can’t use gun control because:
1, it violates the 2nd amendment
2, people need guns to protect their homes and protect themselves against the government
3, certain sickos enjoy the senseless killing of animals for sport and need guns to do so
4, there is no reason a law abiding citizen should not have a gun
5, criminals will still be able to get a hold of guns

let me elaborate:
1. If the government restricts the sale of all weapons except for rifles the 2nd amendment it not being violated. The amendment states we have the "right to bear arms." It does not specify what type of arms, and rifles are a type of arms. Using the 2nd amendment argument against my point is like saying people have the right to decide which particular courtroom they want to be in for their trial because they’re allowed to have trial for their crimes.
2. With a rifle one is perfectly capable of defending their home from invaders. Who needs a 9mm or an Ak-47 to defend themselves from a burglar? No one. Rifles work just fine; there is no need to have a concealed or military weapon to defend your home.

3. Those weirdos will still be able to kill all the animals they like with rifles.

4. If it were that simple I wouldn’t be advocating gun control laws. But until conservatives come up with a test that will 100% accurately determine who is and will be for the rest of their life a law abiding citizen and who isn’t so we know who we can sell guns to, that argument is fruitless.

5. True, they’ll be able to get a hold of guns whether we enact gun control laws or not. But going back to points two and three, the only reason a law abiding citizen would need a gun would be for protection or recreational purposes, and one can still protect their homes from criminals and hunt with rifles.
So then why have gun control laws? Because not ALL criminals have ties to organized crime where they can purchase illegal guns. And in fact, many shootings are accidental. In cases like the Columbine HS shooting, the shooters only had guns because they stole them from their parents or lax control laws allowed them to buy them easily; they didn’t have any ties whatsoever to organized crime and so if gun control laws were in place they wouldn’t have had any guns.

You see where I’m going with this, I don’t feel like extending it any further, I’m sure you can connect those final few dots.
Pied: elaborate, obviously. Don’t just say "yes" or "no" unless you’re speaking with emotion rather than reason.

Edward: I covered that in the post.

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I already know that assault weapon is not a good term, since all weapons (even knives and baseball bats) can be used for assaulting people (hence making them assault weapons). But would military style be better? After all, those guns are modeled exactly after their full auto counterparts. What do you think?
Ok, but isn’t semi-auto rifle a little vague. Because you can break semi auto rifles down into two groups. The low capacity hunting rifles and the ones that accept high capacity magazines.

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Without using the second amendment argument since our forefathers obviously could not have imagined today’s weaponry when they wrote it, can you make a logical argument as to why an average citizen in America should be able to purchase or own a semi-automatic weapon or assault rifle? I would like to hear well thought out reasons as to why we should have these guns readily available for sale to the public. This is a serious question because despite where I stand, I am trying to see both sides of the gun control issue.
To the person who commented about my lack of knowledge – Yes, I DO know the definition of semi-automatic. While I realize it only fires once each time you pull the trigger – it does fire more rapidly than a bolt action rifle and will fire until the stored ammunition is exhausted – which can mean a substantial number of times. Consequently – if you have a rapid trigger finger you can do a lot of damage in a short period of time. You missed the fact that I live in the south. I grew up in a house with hunting rifles and still have one. It is NOT, however a semi-automatic.

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hunting rifles im ok with but hand guns and assault rifles are made to kill people. if we stopped making those available to the public i think gun violence would go down. no one is going to walk down the street with a 3 foot manual rifle.

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Since they are classified as civilians, if there is another assault rifle ban how will they be able to get their weapons? will they have to use handguns and hunting rifles or what?

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