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samueltyler2 Fifty percent of deaths from firearms appears to be related to suicide.
Actually...67% of deaths from firearms are suicides. But before you get too excited about me proving your point, let's look at the Australian gun ban and buy back. Suicides by firearm went down, but suicide by other methods went up. No net effect in reducing overall suicide. The guns are simply the tool, not the motivation itself. You're a doctor...you know this.
Equipped with an alleged AR-15, and large capacity clips, wearing some sort of body protection, he outgunned the law enforcement people.
This is the point at which gun control advocates expose a lack of knowwledge around firearms and turn to talking points. Why do gun control advocates refer to magazines as clips? They aren't the same thing. And why do gun control advocates refer to a standard, 30 round magazine as
high capacity?The concept what is or isn't large arbitrary. It's also completely irrelavant when your target isn't capable of shooting back. Dylan Klebold proved that at Columbine, as did Seung-Hui Cho at Virginia Tech. Then you claim he
outgunned law enforcement. But in your earlier statement, you claim
the school involved had armed personnel on site.
So now we're back the question of how many armed personnel were there, with what were they armed, and are they adequately trained? Again...these particular details are quite vague. So let's step back and face facts. Almost all mass shooters use semi-automatic firearms (pistols and/or rifles) and bring along multiple magazines loaded with ammunition. Was this school adequately prepared to address a mass shooting event? Obviously not. The shooter crashes his car through a fence. Then he walks out carrying an AR-15 in hand. He shoots the one security officer. And then goes through a door that should have been locked. Once inside, the shooting rampage continues until police and tactically trained border agents arrive.
I can appreciate your medical background and the horror of gun shot wounds. I can't speak to that. But by the same token, do you really know what you are talking about describing firearms such as an AR-15? It's clear there are sufficent gaps in your knowledge.
While it may look scary, the AR-15 is still just a semi-automatic firearm. It uses a technology that's been available for more than 100 years, and the rifle itself has been available for sale to the public for nearly 60 years. It is estimated that 70% of the firearms owned today are semi-automatic. The AR-15 is the most popular rifle platform in the US. It's lightweight, modular and easily accept accessories.
It's easy to learn to use, has minimal recoil, and the ammunition is (well, used to be) widely available and relatively inexpensive. Contrary to your claims, the AR-15 is not a high powered rifle. The military considers it a mid-power rifle. A retired Army Ranger friend of mine calls it a ".22 that's been going to the gym." Yes, they are effective at stopping wild boar which are incredibly destructive to farmers crops. That's more for pest control than for hunting. Though, the AR platform is used for game hunting when chambered in the appropriate caliber. And this will make gun control advocate's heads spin...the AR-15 is an excellent firearm for home defense. In my training, a Marine taught us about the ballistics of the .223 Remington bullet. It, by design, tumbles and breaks apart when it hits a solid object travelling at speeds of 2500 feet/second. The advantage of this is that the round doesn't over penetrate walls inside the home in the event of a miss, reducing risk to your neighbors. It also creates a horrid wound when it hits its target. This is not to be confused with some of the steel core 5.56 mm rounds which will penetrate multiple walls, body armour, etc. Choose wisely. People are inherently more accurate with shoulder fired arms than they are are with hand held arms...something you became aware of in your basic training in the navy. The light recoil makes follow up shots easier in case of a miss. In the event of a home invasion, the standard 30 round magazine is superior to the minimalist 10 round mag. Home invasions are not rare. The FBI estimates them at 1.1 million per year in the US. The average number of intruders in a home invasion is nearly 3 people. Wanna get in a gun fight against 3 people and have to swap mags under fire after expelling 10 rounds? And that crap about "if you can't get it done with 10 rounds, you better go back to the range," only comes from the mouths of gun control advocates. Paper targets don't move and they don't shoot back. So how many rounds do you need in a gun fight? No one can truthfully answer that. And hopefully you're never in a situation to find out.