Quote: DaButt @ 18th March 2018, 3:50 PMSome important info about "assault" rifles and past/present attempts to ban sales of them:
1) The banned features are almost entirely cosmetic and have nothing to do with the rifle's lethality. Take grandpa's hunting rifle and add a pistol grip and it's illegal.
I'd say that adding the pistol grip does make it more lethal and I speak only as a bit of a WW2 anorak knowing the origin of the 'machine pistol' as the Nazi military called it. From the MP28 onwards what we called the sub machine gun was more accurately called the machine pistol. It all hinged around the pistol grip which allowed you to shoot from the hip for much faster emptying of a magazine without the need to use the sights which are redundant at close range. These weapons were designed for short range like a pistol using the same ammo and the only upgrade from a Luger was they were fully auto - machine gun fire if selected, and ofcourse carried a larger magazine.
So put a pistol grip on a semi auto rifle and you have a far easier to swing and shoot rifle because your strong right hand is not only firing it but steering it from the grip, a much harder thing to do with a 15lb loaded rifle without a grip, as Dabutt can tell you. And they fire as fast as your finger can tap, which is barely slower than a machine gun and you're using rifle ammo which kill at a far longer range. Personally I see no practical need for such a weapon except for military and police use. It has a hobby use for enthusiasts, so keep it in gun clubs only.
You don't need it for home protection, a shotgun does that job better, I'd be very surprised if it's legal to use for recreational hunting, you can't conceal it like a handgun so it can't be carried as personal protection, if you're attacked by a pack of hungry wolves out camping then your shotgun will see them off although there are many non lethal alternatives. I see no public ownership need at all for the assault rifle as oppose to the above guns mentioned. It's just a legal killing machine for nutjobs with grudges as we keep seeing.