It seems like there seems to be a strong majority opinion that ordinary citizens should not be able to own fully automatic military weapons. And it seems to be a pretty strong majority opinion that small magazine weapons, handguns, and rifles should be accessible to law abiding citizens.
A "well-regulated militia" would probably need military weapons these in order to be effective. The amendment was written at a time when ordinary citizens had just beaten an occupying army with hunting rifles and muskets. That's not reality anymore. When the 2nd amendment was written, the USA had no standing army and instead expected ordinary citizens to take arms against invaders, just as they had done during the revolution. In that sense, part of the purpose for the 2nd amendment doesn't apply to 2022, although I have no problem adapting the purpose to modern life by saying you have a right to own a gun to defend yourself and your property.
You can carry out a mass shooting with a handgun or hunting rifle. However, it seems like many of the recent shooters carry guns that look like military guns. I am guessing this is what people mean by "semiautomatic" or "assault rifle". The reality, as I understand it, is that these are no different than hunting rifles with larger capacity magazines. Their purpose is to make money off of folks with military fantasies. Many of the mass shooters seem to harbor those fantasies. If those guns were unavailable, would they satisfy their fantasy with another gun? Who knows.
I'm not a gun owner, and really can't imagine myself ever being one. Politically, you can sway me either direction on this issue. Mass shootings in the USA are a big issue. Big issues need attention and need action.
One side of this issue recognizes the issue and thinks banning certain guns and stricter background checks with slow the mass shootings. Is it an overreaction? Maybe. But it is an action.
The other side may or may not recognize the issue, and if they do it is minimalized or the blame is passed elsewhere - lack of security, mental illness, not enough "good guys with guns". But they take no action. Mental illness is still not dealt with. They resist laws that would keep unstable people from owning guns. There were police/security on site in Uvalde and Parkland. Same result. Good guys with guns? When I read about a "good guy with a gun" stopping a shooting, that "good guy" has a handgun, not an AR-15.
I tend to gravitate towards the side of those who recognize the problem and want to take action on a potential solution. And my feeling is that the only detriment to banning weapons that look like military rifles is you will piss off those that have military fantasies and want to own things that look cool. Will it solve mass shootings? No. Will it slow them? Maybe some. But when you look at the mass shootings over the past 20 years, most of them were carried out by people who had many previous red flags and had no business owning a gun.
@dakotaviper actually it requires three references in Canada. And none of the references can have a criminal record. Try to get a job in the United States without providing references. If you want to work at McDonald’s you need to supply references but if you want to buy a deadly weapon you don’t? Your absurdity is mind numbing
The "Assault Rifle" is not the problem. An assault rifle can have the same caliber of ammunition that a handgun can have, and it's the ammunition that actually does the killing, the weapon of choice merely delivers the deadly ammunition. We also must understand that we can not have the government, using weapons against "the people" without "the people" having access to the same weapons. The problem lies in getting mentally ill people the mental health they need, including putting them in mental hospitals if that is necessary. Our leaders believe it's easier to issue a check every month to an individual with mental health issues, rather than put them in a hospital and get them real health care.
@calicuz Right. Like the guy in Colorado who had previously threatened his mother with a bomb (?!?), yet was allowed to purchase a firearm. WTF is that?
"Trump made it easier for the mentally ill to get guns when he rolled back Obama regulation In 2017, Trump quietly rolled back an Obama-era regulation that made it harder for people with mental illness to buy guns. Trump responded to the El Paso and Dayton mass shootings by insisting Monday that “mental illness pulls the trigger not the gun,” but shortly after taking office he quietly rolled back an Obama-era regulation that would have made it harder for people with mental illness to buy guns. Trump did so without any fanfare. In fact, the news that Trump had signed the bill was at the bottom of a White House email that alerted the media to other legislation signed by the president.
@OggggO I just read the 2013 recommendation Obama put forth. It was considered an infringement on people’s rights., and was considered broadly painting all those “ identified “ as having mental health issues. Its repeal was even supported by the ACLU. You obviously read the news articles on it, right?
Too often where people are known to have potential mental health issues, and own firearms, their actions and often social network activities signal a potential threat to others, those who might have stepped in, didn’t or couldn’t.
Dealing with people with mental health issues is for many agencies, a fine line to walk.
@soar2newhighs The ACLU also supports protecting the speech of nazis, then is continually amazed and horrified when those same nazis use that speech to organize and attack minorities and government officials. So fuck 'em, I don't give a shit what they have to say on guns.
Too often where people are known to have potential mental health issues, and own firearms, their actions and often social network activities signal a potential threat to others, those who might have stepped in, didn’t or couldn’t.
Gosh, if only we had laws and agencies designed to prevent people showing warning signs from buying guns and committing acts of violence. But no, it's obviously the fault of random citizens without any training or resources for not intervening on their own.
did you ever consider a shot at a deer misses deer runs second shot is needed to put deer down and its not standing still.yes i have shot more than a few and they are very good eating.no hunter wants to wound a deer and if it hapens a quick second shot is needed.if you are against hunting thats ok however i enjoy it and i want a quick kill on any animal i shoot.next time you see joe out in public take a look at all those guys in suits around him they are all carying semi auto pistols and if you ever see the roof of the white house check the machine guns up there but he hates guns
@OggggO I take that as a compliment coming from you, of course.
The law-abiding black citizen who is passed up by a taxi, refused pizza delivery, or stopped by the police can rightfully feel a sense of injustice and resentment. But the bulk of those feelings should be directed at those who have made race synonymous with higher rates of criminal activity rather than the taxi driver or pizza deliverer who is trying to earn a living and avoid being a crime victim.
― Walter E. Williams, Race & Economics: How Much Can Be Blamed on Discrimination?
@sunsporter1649 i’m telling you what you have taught me about yourself is that every story you distort . You’re a consummate liar and that reputation will follow you no matter what you type. Even a basic look at your comment it’s clear that Biden didn’t send anybody.
According to Politifact 70% of school.shooting have been by males under 18 years of age. The oldest that i found was by a 43 year old male. Since 1982 the gender breakdown is 132 by men and 3 by women. Based on that assault weapons should only be owned by females over 21.
The Ukrainians were asked to fight off the Russians with their guns at home when the invasion started. You never know when law abiding citizens may need them against curript governments.
@Outdoorfreedom Really bizarre to use the invasion of the Ukraine by Russia as your justification then. So, what do you plan on using to shoot down a Predator drone? Glock? AR-15? How about the ever popular Desert Eagle?
SW-User
@dakotaviper You know what's also a semi-automatic weapon...a revolver
@Ryderbike As i often tell my good Canadian friend, our laws are different, our politicians are different and our 2nd amendment stands. I also remind him that we are a nation of ten times the number of citizens in Canada. You are like many Americans who focus on the children who have tragically been victims of , IMO mentally unstable (people who should have been seen as potential threats, and dealt with-but we’re not, lest some ass hole liberals thinks their rights might be abused. A problem here, too many worried about others being offended. A failure on a part of our our system) people, but you and they are very unlikely to be outraged at the killing of children in our cities not by mentally unstable people but by the criminal element who run amok and use illegal firearms. What do you propose?
@Tastyfrzz you dont have to figure it out.the state and the feds have records of felons and they cant get the permits so the bad ones dot buy the guns they break in and steel them.mine are locked in a gun safe all but 1 and thats hiden where i can get to it fast if i have to
most people cant get a permit for an automatic weapon(automatic weapon fires by puling thetriger back and holding it back thus fireing till trigger is released)a semi automatic is fired each time the trigger is pulled=i pull i shot) and a fulley automatic permit is almost imposable to get or buy.just so you know