As I said in the first paragraph that you quoted: Technically we have are not discussing assault rifles but military-style semi-automatic rifles. I will include definition in my reply to australopithecus. We might as well use the correct terminology or we will be imitating those who argue against the ToE without knowing how to define it. Based on their particular circumstances some might need military-style semi-automatic rifles. Many experts think so.Gnug215 said:So people really need assault rifles for self-defense?
That seems a tad extreme.
Those were extreme instances but any situation where any sort of gun is needed for self-defense is extreme. I don't know how gauge whether a society is sick buy you might note that much, and possibly most violent crime is done by drug gangs.You mention two extreme circumstances where they were actually used for self-defense, and it occurs to me that the US as a society is really too far gone and too sick in order to fix this problem.
Perhaps legalizing drugs would lower drug prices enough that smuggling and battles over territory would no longer be worthwhile. But some gangs might then increase their other illegal activities to maintain income. But this is getting rather far afield.Gang-related crime and violence continues to rise. NGIC [National Gang Intelligence Center] analysis indicates that gang members are responsible for an average of 48 percent of violent crime in most jurisdictions and much higher in others. Some jurisdictions in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and Texas report that gangs are responsible for at least 90 percent of crime. "¦ Street gangs are involved in a host of violent criminal activities, including assault, drug trafficking, extortion, firearms offenses, home invasion robberies, homicide, intimidation, shootings, and weapons trafficking. NDIC reporting indicates that gang control over drug distribution and disputes over drug territory has increased, which may be responsible for the increase in violence in many areas. Conflict between gangs, gang migration into rival gang territory, and the release of incarcerated gang members back into the community has also resulted in an increase in gang-related crime and violence in many jurisdictions, according to NGIC reporting. http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/2011-national-gang-threat-assessment/2011-national-gang-threat-assessment#Gang-Related Violent CrimeCurrentGang
Gun ownership and safe societies are not mutually exclusive. I don't know how one could derive the existence of a right to be safe since the universe is an inherently unsafe place, even our little speck of it.I live in the EU, and we really don't need guns here. I suppose one could argue about the right to own a gun, but I'd rather talk about a right to live in a safe society.
But I suppose gun rights are much more individualist than (my on-the-spot-made-up) "safe society" right, which is, I suppose, typically socialist-y European.
Anyone who commits a criminal act is a criminal.But these shootings haven't all been done by criminals.
There is a huge number of guns in the U.S. and millions of what you would call assault rifles. The number of misused by criminals is so miniscule in comparison that criminals will always be able to get them. And more can be easily smuggled in since drug smuggling routes are already established.Besides, criminals ignore restrictions in other countries, too, so availability still matters, right?
These weapons are seldom use here either but those rare exceptions are newsworthy. I think that most violent criminals are "produced" by social and cultural factors but some are just nuts.Where I live, only some of the most hard-core criminal gangs are really able to get a hold of assault-type weapons, and if they ever use them, you usually get a man/ganghunt so massive, it will hurt whichever gang used it, so we don't really see these weapons used all that much.
The lacking availability isn't the only factor, I'm sure. The culture and the society seems to matter as well, and perhaps that's really the problem in the US.