Reply #99: So you're going to dismiss everyone who hunts or owns a modern rifle as a gun nut? [View All]

[TheWraith]

Thanks. You just handed the Republicans the House of Representatives.

A few facts for you: the single most popular rifle in America today is the Armalite Model 15, better known as the AR-15, an "assault weapon." Most of the lower items on the list are also "assault weapons." If you want to ban them, you're talking about banning tens of millions of guns. And banning them on what grounds? Not power, certainly--the 30-06 round, commonly used for deer hunting, is 2-3 times more powerful than the .223 used in an AR-15. And not on rate of fire--"assault weapons" are semi-automatic just like any pistol and most "hunting" rifles. The AWB was a cosmetic ban on things like flash suppressors and bayonet connectors, all of which have no effect on whether or not a gun is dangerous.

The 1994 Assault Weapons Ban had no substantive effect on crime--if you don't believe me, ask the 1998 Justice Department report which said that it didn't. It's a "feel good" law which lets people act like they're doing something about gun violence without addressing the poverty and hopelessness that breeds 95% of the gun deaths in this country.

In 2007, my state of New York had 800 homicides by gun. Rifles--all sorts of rifles, not just scary looking "assault weapons"--were used in 12 of them. Just 12. The overwhelming majority of crimes involving a gun happen with HANDGUNS, not rifles.