Quote from: zwanzig20 on September 07, 2013, 05:02:57 PM

Quote from: mdude77 on September 07, 2013, 04:45:56 PM

Quote from: zwanzig20 on September 07, 2013, 04:35:13 PM

What exactly is the importance of an assault riflle for personal use?

The same reason the military uses. They are effective.

M

I also actually wanted to know what the reason is you want them? Hunting/defense or something else?

I want to reiterate that ALL of the mass shootings in my lifetime have been in places where it is illegal to carry a weapon, rendering the victims defenseless. I have heard of maybe three incidents in that time where some fool tried it in an area where arms were extant, with very different results. Either the perp dead or disarmed with little or no harm inflicted on innocents.

As to why *I* want an "assault" weapon, specifically an AK variant, is because it's a damn fine rifle with better reliability than practically anything, and it's simple.

I had the single fire version in the past, and it is decent for hunting as long as you're not after bear or elk or some other ridiculously tough animal, but it's best for shooting back in a bad situation. I actually prefer pistols for myself, as my visual acuity makes gun-sights an iffy proposition due to astigmatism, but at the ranges a pistol is best for (which is not coincidentally the ranges that the maniacs go for against targets they know to be unarmed), sights are unnecessary. But in a SHTF scenario, I would want a rifle. The reliability and simplicity of the AK make it my rifle of choice.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not a particularly powerful rifle. A 30.06 is a much more dangerous gun against an armored target, and it's long range accuracy is superb. It also kicks like an angry mule, which makes it impractical for a small framed guy like me. That it's far less likely to be banned is kind of amusing, as it was originally developed as a sniper's gun back around the turn of the 20th century.

The truth regarding the banning of assault rifles is that they are kind of a connoseur's weapon, and thus an easier target for the politicians than the guns that are actually most often used in crimes. No, I don't think those should be banned either, as I believe the first requisite of liberty is general competent armament.

While taken as a whole, the US has more gun violence than all other nations that I am aware of (by population, at least), the US is NOT a homogenous culture. Those areas where armament is pretty general have low crime rates. The places that report the most gun violence also have the most restrictive laws regarding legal possession of firearms. This correlation is too specific to be a fallacy, and is one of the things the gun bannin' crowd never likes to respond to. I live in Idaho, which has the loosest gun laws in the country to my knowledge, except wrt concealed carry. Armament is common and unremarkable in this society, and we have a very low violent crime rate. Thugs like to HAVE guns, not face them.

I'm not sure if it's still true, but for a very long time the District of Columbia was the murder capital of the world (the private sort, not government wars). It was illegal to even OWN a handgun or long gun in the District, yet it had the most gun deaths. When you disarm the potential victim, that potential goes WAY up.

As to the argument that most people can't handle the responsibility, I'm divided. Given that modern society/government goes to great lengths to protect the willfully stupid, you have a valid argument, but I believe that the key there is education, not regulation. Any idiot can operate a gun, which is why I make the distinction between merely being armed and being COMPETENTLY armed. I am not going to shoot somebody by accident or in a fit of rage. I understand and respect the power of my weapons and will keep my head in a tense situation. This is not the result of temperament, but of training and education. I have handled firearms, safely, for nearly four decades. I have taught many others how to do so. I will teach my son to shoot and when NOT to shoot before much longer. He's still too young, but he already knows the first rule of gun safety.

And I think I will end off with a question of my own, for whoever wants to take a stab at it, because I find that Americans are woefully undereducated on this.

What is the first rule of gun safety?