Why do you need an assault rifle?

[gazpacho]

Some of my favorite replies:

1) Because my wife won't let me collect porn.
2) Because I like good grades.
3) Because wolves still go after the lambs.
4) Because Hitler said it was a good idea to take the guns away from the Jews.
5) Because my ____ is smaller than your ____.
6) Because the second amendment protects the first amendment.
7) Because I own too many pistols.
8) Because I'd never finish off all of my ammo if I had to load it into a bolt action rifle one cartridge at a time.
9) Because the voice in my head wouldn't shut up until I did.
10) Because you don't want me to have one.

 

[wooderson]

"Cause I want it" is a perfectly acceptable answer - to be honest, I think that is the strongest argument to influence your casual person who hears "assault weapon" and gets scared. Explain how the term is mostly meaningless, and how your 'assault weapon' poses no greater danger than any other type of gun.

I guarantee that 95% of the lay populace, when they hear 'assault weapon' thinks "FULLY AUTOMATIC BIG BULLETS KILL KILL."

I am, as some may have noticed, rather well to the left. So my interactions with the durned gun-grabbin' liberals aren't one-tenth as confrontational as some people's. When I talk to someone who's anti-gun, I don't talk about the need to patrol the border or shoot robbers or the potential for a Second American Revolution when the UN takes away my right to blah blah blah.

'Gun control' is best battled on pragmatic grounds. Why is there so much crime in the 'inner city'? Poverty (from a liberal/left viewpoint), lack of life-chances, the drug war. So how do you combat gun crime? By an ineffective confiscation strategy, or by attacking root causes? Argue that gun control is a meaningless band-aid rather than a real solution to what people want solved. Take the power away from gangs, from drug lords, give people a better chance at life, and you've done more than anyone ever could by taking away firearms.

 

[possum]

becuase i can.
also for the simple fact that i don't get nearly enough trigger time in the army and my ar allows me to train up on my own terms and get better at my job. plus i can do it in the comfort of civilian clothes and don't have to wear all that gear! plus alot of the shooting that goes on in the army isn't very real world like, and i like to do things that are more condusive to what i might really face one day on patrol in the streets, buildings, and market places of iraq, or wherever i might be.

 

[karlsgunbunker]

I don't "need" one. I want one.

AMEN, Brother, AMEN

 

[atblis]

Well

I don't.

and

A handgun is what you use to fight back to your rifle

What? I carry a handgun because my Daewoo won't fit down my pants.

 

[Sharps-shooter]

is that a daewoo gun or a daewoo automobile?

 

[Speer]

Need. There's that word again. I need an assualt rifle for the same reason I need any gun.

When defending myself, my family, or my country, I want the best tool for the job.

Not that the gun haters really care.

 

[chipp]

Intimacy

 

[Matthew Temkin]

I do not need one.
But I have several because I want them.
And a free nation is a nation not of needs, but of wants.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

"Folks I'm having a hard enough time keeping up with this one gun a month policy. I only have so much income. Now you want to make me justify myself based on needs?"

 

[MD_Willington]

Why do you need an assualt rifle?

'cause bolt guns are so "good'ol boy".. I want whizz bang buck rogers EBR's..

 

[mr.trooper]

The SIMPLE answer is to ASSAULT things.

 

[RockRifle]

Why do we always label things!

We take inanimate objects and assign them feeling, purpose, and intent. I know there are no self-reliant machines (outside of Hollywood) that are anywhere trying to kill people. All my firearms are tools with a purpose; whether it is target shooting, hunting, plinking, or defending my home and family, they give me comfort. (If I have 30 guns in my safe, I can take pride in the fact that they're not out behaving badly shooting up the world! )

Seriously, I think that the media and the entertainment industry have had it in for responsible gun ownership for 40yrs. The AR has gotten a bad rap for the way it looks. I admit, part of its looks makes it easier handling, faster and more fun; but I also welcome the opportunity to keep my marksmanship skills sharp with a gun that is almost the one that I was issued. Annual qualification will not keep you sharp! You need to shoot more than that.

Hey, give that gun a break, it's only doing what it was designed to do; Its the jerk that is pointing it with the sadistic grin on his face that we have to watch out for. He would be just as evil behind the wheel of an 18 wheeler or in an airplane. Guns are tools, cars are tools,and airplanes are tools; tools are cool, but only when used in the manner they were meant. 9/11 showed us what a..holes with planes can do. . . maybe it would have been better if they'de only had guns!

 

[iapetus]

I don't need an assault rifle.




However, various people, in various parts of the world and at various times in history have needed one.

Some of those may also have had one

Others didn't. (The est. 100M+ victims of state-sponsored murder in the 20th Century probably fall into the latter catagory).



If you don't have one, and find you need one, you probably won't have time to get one.




(Of course, seeing that I live in the UK, I can't legally get an assault rifle, or even an "assault weapon", but that's irrelevent to the reasons why someone might want one).

 

[Maximum1]

Same reason I want a Corvette..... For FUN!!!

 

[Fudgie Ghost]

. . . .because the veneer of civilization is very thin.

Look at the events in NO after Katrina.

Or in LA during the Rodney King riots.

Or in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in south Florida.

What would happen in a large scale terrorist attack? Such as EMP, bio-chemical or nuclear? Hell, the soccer moms around here line up in the Stop and Shop in panic mode when they forecast 3" of snow. .

In any of the above sceanarios it would get very ugly, very quickly in a population-dense area.

I own my AR's the same as I do my life insurance policy, the fire extingusher in my house, etc. Just in case. I hope to be able to protect myself and my family without having to rely on the government.

In our "just in time" society, it doesn't take much to be reduced to lawlessness and mob rule, even if that takes place only on a local scale. And trying to hold off a mob with a pistol or hunting rifle is bound to fail. Hence the AR.

 

[Delta608]

One word...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zombies.

Now that is the best one I had really heard yet !!!!!!

 

[Tokugawa]

You do not have to justify a "right" with a "need". I.E.-Why do you "need" a typrwriter, word processer, or computer. Can't you just use a pencil?

The purpose of a military arm is to kill the enemy. This is exactly the use the founding fathers had in mind.They had the very recent experience (to them) of killing the officers of thier former Government. And they accepted the fact tht when all other recourse fails, that it is acceptable to gain liberty with the force of arms. This is the reason for the second amendment, to provide the ability to the people of removing by force ,thier own government.

 

[BigRobT]

This merely mimics BenEzra's reply. A 10 minute video on the truth about so called "assault weapons".

http://youtube.com/watch?v=X9cDbA8O9-c

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Cool Video

Thanks for that link.

It's a breath of fresh air.

The only part where I winced was where he said (in effect, speaking of semi-autos):

If you ban that technology, you ban nearly 20 million weapons.

Somewhere, at the back of the room, a hoplophobe's eyes widen as he realises how much damage he can do just by outlawing self-loaders . . .

Beyond that, I've added it to my list of resources.

 

[alan]

The following is addressed to those who insist on asking silly questions, as well as quite possibly deliberately mischaracterizing what is simply a semi-automatic rifle.

If and when you can PROPERLY, that is technically speaking, define the genre, I might be able to answer your question. Meanwhile, re questions that simply ooze emotionalism and cheap theatrics, I have neither the time nor the inclination to try.

Just TRIED to view the link mentioned by BigRobT. It might be interesting but given that the voice over stopped about every 3 seconds, according to timer shown, I lack the patience or stamina to sit through it.

 

[MikeWSC]

Why to have an AR-15

SharpsShooter's quote:

1. I don't.
2. To shoot bullets out of.
3. Zombies.
4. To impress my brothers and cousins.
5. "Hunting deer".
6. It makes it easier to kill people.
7. Less messy than using a machete.
8. To compensate for my incredibly small penis.
9. So I can shoot it and it will go "bang" and I can yell "yee-haw".
10. Because I'm a big old redneck.

For larger caliber rounds I like to say "in case dinosaurs aren't really extinct."

Oh my goodness, read this and laughed my fanny off!!

I just got home a bit ago from picking up my new six-shooter. Since I already
have a bunch the guys asked why I was getting this one?

1) Because I didn't have one.
2) I absolutly need firearms, without them my heart shrivels and ceases to
beat.
3) Because I want them all.
4) I like things that go boom (for large guns).
5) I like things that go bang (for smaller guns).
6) I need a gun for every year of my life.
7) Because I don't hang jewlery all over myself.
8) AR's look great, and if you can't shoot well, at least look good doing it.
9) AR's look great, and if you can shoot well, you'll have even more fun!

Have mine & love it. Save for yours, get the best you can. Then you can buy
different uppers/different calibers (.22 to .50 Bewolf) for a more versitle gun.

 

[Limeyfellow]

To stick it to the government. With Bush and Cheney being vehemently against any types of firearms not used for what they consider a "sporting" reason they have gone on record many time saying they should be all banned.

That and you can hardly argue about the coolness factor of FALs and the like.

 

[wildburp]

Turn it around and ask, "Why not?"

 

[Alexfubar]

To uphold and protect the US Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic ?

To make those little holes in the target closer together than they were last weekend.

And , obviously , to shoot bad things until they aren't bad anymore.