The gun Adam Lanza used was an AR-15 which is typically chambered for a .223 caliber that fires a 55 grain bullet. To put that in perspective, a 9mm handgun usually fires a 115 grain or a 124 grain bullet. People buy AR-15's because they are a low powered gun with light recoil, which makes them easier to handle and more accurate to shoot. Most people are not skilled enough to accurately hit their target with a high powered rifle or a high powered handgun.
The second amendment wasn't written to grant Americans the right to home defense or hunting. Using arms for self-defense and to hunt for food is an inalienable right that predates the constitution. The purpose of the Second Amendment is for citizens to be armed in the defense of the country and to act as a restraint against government tyranny. And it has worked brilliantly! The Communists, the Nazi's and Imperial Japan all concluded that they could never invade the United States mainland because as Tojo put it, "There would be a gun hiding behind every blade of grass." I can understand why politicians who want to "fundamentally transform" America are fearful of an armed citizenry and will exploit every tragedy to achieve their ends of a disarmed America.
You mean like these paranoids?
"What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance. Let them take arms."
Thomas Jefferson
"Firearms stand next in importance to the constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence … from the hour the Pilgrims landed to the present day, events, occurrences and tendencies prove that to ensure peace, security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable … the very atmosphere of firearms anywhere restrains evil interference — they deserve a place of honor with all that's good."
George Washington
"The great object is that every man be armed." and "Everyone who is able may have a gun."
Patrick Henry
"Those who hammer their guns into plowshares will plow for those who do not."
Thomas Jefferson
"The best we can help for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed."
Alexander Hamilton
Just the opposite is true. The areas of the country that have the strictest gun control have the highest murder rates. "More Guns, Less Crime" by John Lott is a scholarly examination that exhaustively refutes the assertion that the crime rate is directly commensurate with the availability and access to guns.
I don't think everyone who owns a gun will be responsible, just like I don't think everyone who drinks alcohol will be responsible, or rides a bicycle will be responsible. What I don't want to do is diminish the liberties of 300 million people to try and stop a few irresponsible people with a so-called assault weapons ban that will in no way address the problem of mass shootings and serve no other purpose than to allow politicians to puff out their chests and say they did something about it.
What I do know is that the assault weapons ban in place in the state of Connecticut did not stop Adam Lanza. I also know that legally owned firearms are used 2.5 million times a year to stop a crime.
