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Originally Posted by !@#$%!
calibers are already regulated. anything above .50 caliber is considered a destructive device and illegal outside of military use.
typology: automatic weapons (machine guns) are NOT accessible to the public. they are not illegal strictly speaking, but they are so highly regulated and expensive to own, people can't go into a store and walk away with one.
any and all weapons are/have been "military" at some point, including the measly .22LR which can make for an effective sniper rifle. look, ma! i have a sniper rifle!
a so-called "assault rifle" is simply a semiautomatic rifle like the kind people use for hunting. semi-auto loading is a 100-year-old technology. it is NOT a machine-gun. it is one trigger-pull per bullet, just like a revolver.
look at this video-- a bit old but pretty excellent:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysf8x477c30
the "nato" caliber is actually less powerful and has less recoil and has a smaller round than the extensively popular .30-06 used by deer hunters-- which is why it's good for home defense-- it is more controllable, and has less penetration when it hits a wall (less even than many handguns).
one person's "assault rifle" is another person's "home defense carbine"-- easy to aim, easy to handle in close quarters, endowed with sufficient stopping power, and safer than a hunting rifle or a shotgun.
this-- yes. everyone, including gun owners, agrees with that.
but this is exactly the problem-- banning guns for their looks or made-up names or magazine sizes does not make guns less necessary. |
Bullshit. Assault-style weapons such as the Bushmaster and other carbine rifles can be readily modified with a few simple parts to go full auto. Where do you think gangsters in Chi-town or South Central get these things? By the way, the assault weapons ban worked. Machine gun and high-caliber riffle consfications by law enforcement as well as crimes committed by all declined every year here in California after 1994. Further, out state-wide bans on copy-cat rifles like the SKS also worked miracles. When I was a kid, you'd hear of machine gun killings at least monthly. Its a rarity these days that stands out noticeably.
Further, is it some kind of coincidence that the majority of mass shootings, workplace shootings, and random killings have involved the Bushmaster, a rifle which was previously banned from 1994-2004? No. Since 2005 the number of shootings with these rifles has sky-rocketed. Clearly the ban was working.
There is no place in hunting for weapons designed for combat. Just because they are slightly modified for public use, doesn't negate the reality that such weapons are not designed for personal defense, but forward combat operations.
I support banning these weapons, banning extended magazines, banning such high-power ammunition, and of course ending ALL background check loopholes. Chicago has the strictest gun laws in the country. Why does it still have one of the highest gun crime rates? Because Michigan, Wisconsin, and even Illinois in general have lax laws in comparison, and guns flood into town. Here in LA we have a similar problem with Nevada and Arizona, but the sheer size and scale of California geography helps curb the effect some, plus California's own state-wide laws are fairly strong and strongly enforced.