Maybe a rational person would shy away from using a knife to commit mass mayhem if no gun was available but rational people don't commit mass mayhem. You and I might be squeamish about an encounter with a blade but who knows how a homicidal and suicidal wacko might be thinking. In China I don't think many citizens have access to firearms but there have been a few cases recently where some nut has accumulated an impressive body count on his knife wielding rampage. There was even one case in the news recently where it happened in this country. As far as the armed citizen I mentioned Captain Google, it happened. Maybe 8 to 12 years ago and it was possibly in Brooklyn. I must have seen it on TV because I know that the guy was an African American in his mid to late 30s. Probably wasn't Murder One, Dano. More likely manslaughter
I guess I'm not rational. I shoot my AR for sport. It stays locked up in a locked safe with a lock on the trigger in a separate location when not in use and no ammo in the house. I buy Ammo on the way to the range. I guess I am one crazy mofo.
To say that rational people don't carry concealed weapons is irrational. And what is your definition of an "assault weapon"? The only difference between what some people term an assault weapon and a hunting rifle is cosmetics. Fully automatic weapons are illegal. What you probably call an assault rifle is a rifle that looks like a military weapon. But its not. If it were a military weapon it would be capable of firing on full auto. And thats against the law
Nope. Even the M-16 is no longer a full-auto weapon. What makes for a modern military assault rifle is a short (or folding) stock and a high-capacity magazine. Hunting rifles have no need for high-capacity magazines, which are not legal for hunting anyway. Yes, there is some overlap. My semi-auto Mini-14 varmint rifle has a sporter stock and a small magazine. But a collapsable military stock for $99 and a 30-round magazine for $19 make it into an assault rifle. The rule of the duck applies. If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, and looks like a duck . . . it's a duck.
Yet handguns are the overwhelmingly most used gun to kill people. "Assault Weapon" is just a scare tactic.
No, assault weapons have been used for the most egregious recent mass shootings. They have a relevance to discussions about stopping those kinds of attacks. A scare tactic is suggesting that the government intends to totally ban them. But they could be controlled better. Registration makes sense with these non-hunting guns. And limits on how many you can buy would stop a lot of the illegal gun trafficking. Something is wrong when Mexican drug cartels easiest way to obtain weapons is through American gun dealers.
The numbers vary because opinion varies on what is a "mass" murder. Also the definition of an "assault weapon" has no standard. The 1994 assault weapons definition included semi-automatic handguns and shotguns with high-capacity magazines (over 10 rounds), not just rifles. By this definition, over half of mass murders used high-capacity magazines.
