Legalization of Assault Rifles Debate: Personal Opinion

Legalization of Assault Rifles Debate: Personal Opinion Nathan Eakin When faced with a situation that puts harm into the family’s life, anyone would like reliable weapon to protect them. Assault rifles are an accurate weapon and that’s why a lot of gun enthusiast collect them and build them. Coming from the standpoint of an enthusiast, a lot of people rarely get out and shoot all their guns that they have. Now the only thing everybody hears is people talking negatively about them, and about how dangerous they are. If the government banned the semi-auto assault rifle it would cause a huge wave of a black markets and a lot of fighting if they tried to come abolish already owned weapons. But still they are trying to change the Second amendment even though it declares the right to bear arms which then can be extended to semi-auto weapons that are now getting debated on the legalization (Acosta, Luis). The modern assault rifle was made back at the end of World War 2 and Vietnam. There have been several different types of assault weapons made. Back in 1963 the first AR like guns were sold to the public. There are several different types of assault weapons made. And most of these are available to the public. The M16 and M1A1 were the first modern assault rifles. They were used in the military through Vietnam. Now mainly all for sale is the AR15. The AR15 uses .223 rounds and some can shoot the 5.56 (†The Truth About Assault Weapons†). These are the main weapons that are being debated on. A lot of people don’t actually know what assault weapons are. Now there are so many types of old military weapons that are open to the public. There are lots of types of semi-auto weapons for sale. These weapons you can pretty much go anywhere and buy them. You also can obtain full automatic weapons through a long process of back ground checks and fingerprints. All of these assault weapons are getting debated now. This whole debate isn’t just on one gun either. It’s on several different weapons, magazines, ammunition amounts. They disagree on a lot of these things. The NRA is a huge group that is against the banning of all these weapons. They have several different classes you can take for safety, basics, and all hunting tutorials. The NRA is a huge group with thousands of members that all are gun enthusiasts that know all about the real use for weapons. They are a great organization to talk to about some of the information and the sides to this debate (James A. Peden and Mark Yaworski). The banning of assault rifles would cause a huge fight in the United States. Most of the people that use the assault rifle are professionals that use them for a lot of competitions. A lot of people are against it just because they have large magazines and they can be shot in a very fast manner. They think they are some kind of killing machine, even though it’s not guns that kill people, people kill people. Even though 69% of murders used with firearms are with pistols and shotguns not assault rifles. This shows that assault weapons aren’t the most dangerous thing out there. Even though all the professionals have been shooting for several years, and more than likely have their conceal carry permit and have went through so many different types of classes of safety people still worry about them. There is a lot of time and dedication to obtain this permit. First you have to get a back ground check, and then you have to get a fingerprinted. Last you have to get approved by t he sheriff’s office. There are a lot of classes a lot of them take for safety and practice. This helps the person with their overall shooting ability. They all have been trained in great manners and banning this gun could hurt the professional’s careers. A lot of people use these weapons to protect them. Assault rifles are an overall great gun to use for protection around the home. They are an accurate weapon, if you need to shoot several times you can. Everybody knows the look of these guns, and the crook or robber probably would immediately run as soon as he saw it in your hands. He would more than completely second guess trying something that could possibly hurt you. It’s a great weapon to teach your kids how to shoot and how to safely operate a weapon. It’s not a terribly loud gun and it doesn’t kick much, and it’s just a .223 which is very small rifle round. They guns are very accurate up to long ranges and can be an accurate weapon at short and close shots to. The way these guns are made is to shoot several rounds at a fast past and to be able to keep the gun in the same spot. These weapons are what most of the military personal use. That kind of shows how amazing these guns are. In the long run they are a great weapon to have around the house and a great weapon to protect your family with. Even people that are doing research on this exact topic find that 69% of firearm murders happen with pistols and hunting weapons like shotguns. Pistols are such a small weapon but can sure pack a punch. They can be easily hidden anywhere, some are decently accurate depending on the shooter, and you still have 14 rounds in most magazines. And most of people against this topic always bring up the magazine capacity, even though some are 10 and some are 30. But still assault rifles aren’t too much more powerful at the same range as pistols. Assault rifles are great at long distances but still a pistol you can put in your pocket and have 15 rounds ready to go. With an assault rifle they would see you carrying a big gun into wherever you are and everybody would freak out. Assault rifles aren’t made for close range especially if you have a zoomed optic so it’s pointless to use one close. All these points really show that assault rifles aren’t meant to hurt people . They are used for long range target practice, coyote hunting, etc. Despite all the information on my side, most of the other people on the other side think about how dangerous the weapons are to them and everyone around them. They think that since they can carry several rounds and they can be shot at high rates of fire they are bad weapons for people to have. Even though you have to go through a lot of papers, back ground checks, fingerprints, etc. Some people just don’t trust other people which is understandable, but it’s not fair for most of the people that just want to shoot and hunt with. People now have to go through all these processes to just get a gun. Even some weapons that are classified in class A and B you have to go through longer processes that can take several months just to get the weapon you want. To conclude this paper, the decision they should make is assault rifles shouldn’t be debate or banned in any form. I can understand regulating the magazine size and categorize it as a class 2 type of material. From all the details and research that has been done it’s safe to say that assault rifles aren’t the most dangerous think out there. Pistols and hunting weapons still come in with the higher percentages. Not only are assault rifles very high in price, mainly gun enthusiasts are the only ones interested in these weapons. In the end it would cause several different problems for all of America. It could cause some people to attack back against the law ans government. It could cause a huge black market of assault weapons which can make everything a lot harder for people to solve murders because the gun wouldn’t be registered to anyone. All these reasons show that banning assault weapons wouldn’t be the best idea. Works Cited Acosta, Luis. United States: Gun Ownership and the Supreme Court. Second Amendment. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2014. http://www.loc.gov/law/help/second-amendment.php Everything You Need to Know about the Assault Weapons Ban, in One Post. Washington Post. The Washington Post, n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2014. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/17/everything-you-need-to-know-about-banning-assault-weapons-in-one-post/ GUN CONTROL and THE SECOND AMENDMENT. GUN CONTROL and THE SECOND AMENDMENT. Tntech, n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2014.http://iweb.tntech.edu/kosburn/history-201/second-amendment.htm James A. Peden and Mark Yaworski. And, You Can Join the NRA Right Now..click Here. National Rifle Association Information Page. Vermont Friends of the NRA, n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2014. http://www.middlebury.net/nra/ Mathews, Jake. For Lives and Liberty: Banning Assault Weapons in America. The Institute of Politics at Harvard University. N.p., n.d. http://www.iop.harvard.edu/lives-and-liberty-banning-assault-weapons-america Sherfinski, David. Six in 10 Favor Ban on Semi-automatic Weapons: Poll. Washington Times. The Washington Times, n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2014. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/2/poll-6-10-favor-ban-semi-automatic-weapons/ The Truth About Assault Weapons. The Truth About Assault Weapons. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2014. . United States Senator Dianne Feinstein. Assault Weapons Ban Summary. Senator Dianne Feinstein, n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2014. http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/assault-weapons-ban-summary