As the graphic shows, there are many legitimate reasons to own a firearm, but an assault weapon (such as the AR-15 shown) is not appropriate for any of those purposes. It is not good for sport shooting, hunting, or home defense (where a shotgun or pistol would make much more sense). This weapon was invented for only one purpose -- to kill lots of people in as short a time as possible. In a military situation this is desirable -- but not in civilian society.Right-wingers would like Americans to believe there is no limit to the Second Amendment, but that is not true. The Supreme Court, even our current conservative court, has ruled that there are appropriate limits to the Second Amendment, and that a city or state can retract where and what kind of weapons can be carried or owned. And in the past, when the federal government had an assault weapons ban, that ban was ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court.
Other weapons of war have been banned from being purchased and owned by private citizens -- such as machine guns, bazookas and RPGs, and many others. How is an assault weapon different, since its only real use is in a military situation?
It's time to ban assault weapons again, and hopefully make it permanent this time.
