But you didn't say why people would want or need such a nice gun. There are only a few reasons.
Sure I did.
An "assault weapon" is suitable for use in any legal and legitimate way you might use a gun. Hunting. target shooting. Self-defense. Collecting. Et al.
You might think that a gun collector would want one, but I doubt it. AK47's and M16's are extremely mass-produced items of weaponry, and have almost no collection value.
Ah. A position of ignorance. Thats one.
News for you , bub- A genuine M-16 is wort up to $7000. An M-14 w/ selector? $6k easy. A REAL Soviet AK? Can't touch 'em for under $4k. These values go up every year.
An assault rifle is completely unnecessary in hunting. You completely remove the sport from it. You take out all the challenge, the skill, and the tactics, which are the real draws to hunting.
Let me ask you something:
Why do you think a .308 round from my M14 is any 'less sporting" than a .308 round from my Remington M-700 bolt action rifle?
Your argument here is predicated on the idea that you're going to fire a burst from the rifle when hunting. This is your second position of ignorance.
All you really need to kill a deer or two is a decent rifle.
And my M14 is just that rifle. One shot, one kill.
Competitive shooters could want one, but again, it's unnecessary. A competition would be just as competitive, if not more so, with lower powered rifles.
You dont know much about competive rifle shooting. Let me help you with your third postion based in ignorance.
There's two disciplines of rifle comnpetition: smallbore and highpower.
Smallbore uses 22LR ammo at ranges to 100yds. Highpower comes in two flavors - XTC (Across the course, 200 to 600yds)) and Long Range (600 to 1000yds). Even a prissy smallbore shooter will admit - you cant shoot smallbore XTC, much less LR.
Within the two highpower groups, there's two classes of rifle - match rifle and Service rifle.
Service rifle means the civilian equivelant to any USGI service rifle - the M1903, M1 Garand, M14 and M16.
The latter 2 are "assault weapons". Most match rifles would also qualify as such, though they sometimes look very unlike service rifles.
Every year, literally thousands of people, all armed with "assault weapons" come together at Camp Perry Ohio for the National Rifle and Pistol matches. I have pics, if you want some.
So, "assault weapons" hace a clear and distinct role in competition, and are some are -highly- sought after for this purpose.
Personal defense: if you're in a situation where an ordinary handgun isn't enough to protect you, run away and call the police.
Thats great - if you can.
An ordinary citizen don't have to be able to thwart a bank robbery or a terrorist plot. That's the police's duty. And five men with shotguns aren't going to come into your house, steal your property, and hurt your family. And if you're one of the rare people that they're going to do that to, hire some trained body guards.
And this means my AR-15 isnt suitable for use in a self-defense situation, because...?
So, overall, there are very few justifyable reasons why a legitimate person would want an assault rifle. They have no collection value, they're completely unnecessary for hunting, they're unnecessary for competition, and they're unnecessary for personal defense.
Three of your arguments are based in ignorance. The fourth doesnt do anything to show that an "assault wapon" isn't useful. You're 0 for 4.
The main demographic that would buy this type of weapon would be major, violent criminals.
Then explain why so few are used for crime, and so many others are used for legitimate purposes.
There were 480 murders committed w/ rifles in 2002. If they were all "assault weapons", that 480 represents 1/5th the number of competitors in just ONE highpower match at the nationals.
A criminal with an AK47 is exponentially more dangerous than a criminal with a handgun or another type of gun.
Wait - werent you saying that I dont need an AW for defense? What if the bad guy has an AK - that makes him exponetially more dangerous, right?
Making these guns legal would cause civilian deaths, and police deaths, and provide only a tiny benefit to the general population.
The guns have been legal, for a long time. Remember the two pictures of the rifles I posted? One was banned and one wasnt? If you're right, and making them legal will 'cause civial deaths' - where are they? The guns have aways been legal - sop there should be deaths - right?
Guns are tools of murder. Period. They have no other function.
Plainly, given this post, this is your 4th position of ignorance.
Here comes the REAL question:
Now that you know better - will you change your mind, or will you continue to wallow in your ignorance?