Sam Harris (not that I'm impressed with him generally) criticized the focus on heavy duty guns. He said a hunting rifle could be about as dangerous from the right vantage point.
Even so, it's better to limit the array of choices the potential attacker has. To have it as a collector's item is probably the only legitimate use for a machine gun.

Yet in the nearly 80 years since NFA put the first restrictions on the private ownership of machine guns in the US the only murder conviction of someone using a legally owned one was of an Ohio police officer who used his privately held MAC-11 to murder an informant. The current laws covering the private ownership of machine guns appear to me to be working just fine.

(May 12, 2014 at 3:52 pm)popeyespappy Wrote: Yet in the nearly 80 years since NFA put the first restrictions on the private ownership of machine guns in the US the only murder conviction of someone using a legally owned one was of an Ohio police officer who used his privately held MAC-11 to murder an informant. The current laws covering the private ownership of machine guns appear to me to be working just fine.

Of course! Putting restrictions on their use prevents them from being used... right?

Tell you what. As soon as you can provide me with a reason to rethink my position on the current laws covering private ownership of machine guns I will rethink my position. Until then the current system appears to be working just fine.

I lost perspective. We're discussing the option of further restrictions.

(May 12, 2014 at 3:17 pm)abtaylor Wrote: Pistols, Machine Guns, all the kinds, theyre all legal

As they should be. It's a right you know?

(May 12, 2014 at 3:17 pm)abtaylor Wrote: Pistols, Machine Guns, all the kinds, theyre all legal

Oh, dear. Your knowledge of firearms, firearms laws, and the issues is sorely lacking.

(May 12, 2014 at 11:19 am)Chas Wrote:

(May 11, 2014 at 9:16 pm)psychoslice Wrote: You believe what you want, I just don't happen to agree with you.

Except we have facts and evidence. You have unsubstantiated opinion.


The best estimates are about 45% or 52 million of American households owning 260 million guns. So if 'most' gun owners are irresponsible, we should see tens of millions of deaths and injuries from firearms.

We see no such thing.

No, I have a thing called a brain, which I can think for myself, I don't just believe anything that is said to be a fact.

(May 12, 2014 at 7:09 pm)psychoslice Wrote: No, I have a thing called a brain, which I can think for myself, I don't just believe anything that is said to be a fact.

If you were maybe 1 IQ point higher you might understand how little you actually know.

(May 12, 2014 at 9:00 pm)KUSA Wrote:

(May 12, 2014 at 7:09 pm)psychoslice Wrote: No, I have a thing called a brain, which I can think for myself, I don't just believe anything that is said to be a fact.

If you were maybe 1 IQ point higher you might understand how little you actually know.

And I suppose you know more, stop playing with yourself.