I wonder why Drudge didn't go with Thatcher instead of Stalin.

Yes, if you had read it you would see that dirty hands are something else we must eliminate before we can even talk about guns.

Also, still no good reason for someone to own a semi-automatic rifle.

It still doesn't explain why the crime rates are some of the highest in the country. If less guns and gun control worked then surely it would at least have a lower crime rate right then most cities?

For the foreseeable future the war on drugs isn't going anywhere. So I guess as long the war on drugs continues, the majority of gun violence will continue. Just like the renaissance and the enlightenment, it takes centuries for societies to wise up to facts and reason.

put food on the table

So you're fine with leaving handguns alone? I'll call that a small victory.

Ok, cliffs on what the guy who is probably smarter than anyone on the board said. And go.

2nd amendment and they are used for hunting duck, goose and deer. You have to pull the trigger for each shot fired.

Damn mis-read your post, thought you were looking for credentials. If you don't want to read it then don't, I'm not posting cliffs.

Seems like a super inefficient way to feed yourself, maybe hunting is just hard here but people spend thousands of dollars on equipment and 100s of hours to shoot a couple deer a season.

shoot iphones, obv.

So we have to have a detailed description that satisfies you of what we would do with an item that never is used to murder someone so we can try and keep it legal to own? Who cares what we so with it. We're not murdering people with it and no one is for that matter.

I'm not allowed to own a handgun, guess by extension that's a huge loss.

This is just for the first investment (it's more like hundreds). I use the same gun that I purchased when I was 18 (that was many moons ago).

I'm somewhat more optimistic on this than you, I suppose.

Kind of subjective no? It would be a huge loss for me if I weren't allowed to own one. I don't know if it's a huge loss for you.

What a pity, I was ready to be blown away by his insight.

2nd Amendment
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

How does this have anything to do with people owning guns? When I read this. I read about people involve in a, "well regulated militia." Can some please explain how this has anything to do with all citizens owning guns.

So now we need to legislate how people get food according to how people prefer them to and based on efficiency? It doesn't matter whats efficient or what people you know spend. That's the beautiful thing about a free country.

The Supreme Court and most Politicians have agreed this means the right for the American people to own guns for a very long time.

The second amendment doesn't mention semi-automatic rifles and those animals can be shot with other rifles.

Can you guarantee no one ever will? We can actually ban stuff BEFORE it's used to kill an entire classroom, ldo.

Your loss then. I'll cliff one of his arguments just for discussion sake. The dispartity of force argument. In a world with no weapons the strongest man can dominate the weak. Most men are stronger and faster than most women. Often, the only effective defense a women has against a violent attack from a man is a firearm. Firearms level the playing field in self-defense situations by allowing the weakest among us to defend themselves from the strongest.

One of the reasons I didn't want to cliff, is that I'm not nearly as smart or as good a writer as the author so I don't want someones decision to read the piece determined by what I write.

Stop being lazy and go read what the people who wrote it had to say about it. I swear you guys want everything handed to you on a platter.

C&P from The Truth About Guns.

Q: Why do Americans need "Assault Weapons"?

This really needs to be a canned answer to this question. I’m sure this steps on some pet toes in the community, but I’m trying to be concise, and direct in advocating why assault rifles are absolutely relevant to and ideally suited to home defense use. Feel free to plagiarize and circulate:

There is a common misconception that handguns are appropriate for home defense. They can be used for this purpose, but there primary purpose relates to their ability to be carried conveniently.

Assault rifles (and yes I will use that term as the Army has long defined it as being any rifle that is designed to be select fire which fires an intermediate cartridge between a sub-machine gun and a battle rifle cartridge) when not neutered or handicapped are the absolute ideal weapon for defensive use in the home for a number of specific reasons that are not available through other weapon platforms.

Low Recoil: Low recoil allows the demographics most as risk (women, elderly, or otherwise small or weak statured) to effectively defend themselves. Persons unable to or uncomfortable with managing the recoil of defense caliber handguns, hunting rifles, or shotguns are often comfortable with the recoil of the intermediate cartridge.

Accuracy: Assault rifles are purpose built to be intuitively accurate and ergonomically friendly so that even with minimal training, and under high stress accurate shots can be fired at close ranges while dealing with moving targets that are posing a deadly threat. Accuracy is absolutely critical both to stopping the threat of an assailant, and to preventing harm to others. Any time a shot does not hit the bad guy in a defensive situation, it has the potential to harm somebody other than the bad guy. For this reason, a weapon used for defense in the home should be as ergonomic as possible. Features like pistol grips were not designed because they look cool. They exist because they make shooting accurately easier. There is a reason why civilian police will always prefer to have weapons that are ergonomic. The person defending their home alone deserves no less.

Magazine Capacity: Assault rifles are generally built with the intention of using a 20 to 30 round magazine. The size of these magazines are part of the ergonomics of the rifle, but the volume of ammunition is also important to home defense. For home defense, it is well known that the odds of needing more than a handful of rounds are even slimmer than needing the weapon in the first place. But it is also well known that for home defense, the person defending themselves will rarely have anything other than what is already attached to the weapon. They don’t get to choose who, when, or how many will attack them. Having ammunition left over after an attack is infinitely better than running out of ammunition while still being attacked. There is a reason why civilian police, despite having a virtually endless line of backup, will always prefer the standard capacity magazines, and generally several of them. The person defending their home alone deserves no less.

Ideal Ammunition: Of all the types and calibers of ammunition available, the intermediate rifle cartridge common to assault rifles is the ideal projectile for home defense in a number of categories. Because of the light weight and high velocity nature of the intermediate rifle cartridge, it has sufficient penetration and power to quickly incapacitate an attacker, yet it has approximately half the penetration capacity of common handgun rounds when going through walls. In addition to the inherent accuracy mentioned earlier, this reduced penetration through walls further reduces the risk to harming others. In addition, the intermediate rifle cartridge will penetrate soft body armor (as will virtually all rifle rounds) which is a growing concern with violent criminals. It should be noted that shotgun rounds generally will not penetrate soft body armor. And finally, there is the question of effectively stopping an attacker. Entire reports have been compiled on this one topic, but it can be summarized by saying that while both handgun rounds and rifle rounds are often eventually fatal, handgun rounds often leave the attacker capable of continuing to attack sometimes running as far as multiple blocks away, and rifle rounds tend to stop attackers immediately. When faced with a threat to the lives of yourself and those you care about, there is no priority higher than preventing harm to those you care about, and the time it takes to stop an attacker from attacking is critical to preventing harm.

To recap: Low recoil allows those at greatest risk to defend themselves.Accuracy and ergonomics increases the ability to hit the bad guy thereby reducing the risk of harm to others. Magazine capacity is part of the weight and balance of rifle, and ensures you can defend yourself with ammo to spare rather than running out. The ammunition caliber and type is ideally suited to defend against attacks in the home.