Since now seems to be a discussion about gun control, I have a question.
I served in the Marine Corps, have been a hunter, and own guns. So I am not in the anti gun camp. However, I can not wrap my head around the idea that there is any valid reason for an individual to own an assault weapon.
Outside of your constitutional right to own one. What useful purpose does owning an assault rifle serve? The only thing I can think of is self defense if being attacked by someone else with an assault weapon.
A brick could be an assault weapon. Or a baseball bat. Or many other things.
The definition of an “assault weapon” changes depending on who you talk to.
During the Clinton Administration, the semi-automatic version of fully automatic weapons like the AK-47 and M-16 were not permitted to have various harmless features because the features made the rifles have a military* appearance*, and the weapons were restricted to magazines that held no more than ten rounds. Clinton thought that this was “gun control.”
But as a former Marine, you would know that anyone with experience can easily change out multiple 10 round magazines in no time. Even the fact that the civilian weapons are restricted to being semi-automatic is really pointless, as any person with military experience knows that one hardly ever selects automatic fire when accuracy is needed. Automatic fire is only ever selected when one is laying down suppressive fire.
England has a gun ban, but criminals have guns, and today the formerly unarmed British police are heavily armed. When guns were not banned in England, the police carried nightsticks, not firearms.
They banned alcohol during the Prohibition era. Look at how that turned out. All it did was drive up the price of alcohol and create Al Capone.
And then you have the fact that the primary of purpose of the Second Amendment is not self-defense from home invasion or street thugs. The primary purpose of the Second Amendment is self-defense from the Government. The purpose of the Second Amendment is to make the Government think twice about engaging in Tyranny. The Founders wrote extensively on the right to keep and bear arms. Unlike the imaginary “right to an abortion” the right to self-defense is a basic human right. It is not even dependent upon a Constitution. It is an absolute, unalienable right.
