N R A members only..Why does the US need semi -automatic weapons?

Question

like that used at the massacure in Omaha Neb shopping mall for hunting purposes for rabbit, deer, and squirrils?

Answer 1

The average US citizen probably doesn't NEED one. Unlike MANY other "civilized" countries in the world, most of us in the US (NRA members or not) are granted the right to CHOOSE by our Constitution.

Do you have a relevant QUESTION regarding sports and/or hunting? Do you have some other intent here? Or are you just trying to start an argument?

Most NRA members are intelligent, responsible people who VOTE and write letters.

As others have noted, other designs (most bolt actions are based on a design that is 100+ years old), when in the wrong hands, can injure just as many people as semi-autos. Anything can be dangerous in the wrong hands.

Answer 2

Some idiot is always eroding our Constitutional Rights to keep and bear arms. Whenever something like Omaha or Virginia Tech occurs some fool is always ready to place the blame squarely where it does not belong. Ban guns instead of punish the criminal. We need guns, even semi-automatics simply because we live in an unsafe world where crazed-people are perfectly willing to kill without provocation. If these crazies don't have guns to kill with they'll use whatever means is available to them. Guns are the honest, law abiding citizen's best defense against these crazies. Remember that it was an armed citizen that helped the police stop Charles Whitman, the Texas Tower sniper in Austin, TX. That didn't get a whole lot of news hype, now did it. Wonder why!

You have to question politicians motives' who try to destroy our 2nd. Amendment rights. Are they interested in gun control, or total control? Think about it.

H

Answer 3

The US needs semi automatic firearms so that the government won't decide that the rest of our rights should be limited for the safety of others. Every right we have been forced to give up has been for the safety of others. Truthfully it is sad to see people get caught up in the wrath of a deeply disturbed person such as Nebraska, but a semi auto rifle was just one of many possible weapons that could have been used to inflict mass casualties.

The sad fact remains, our police departments and politicians are unable or unwilling to protect us from fanatics or the mentally disturbed so we are forced to do so ourselves or be slaughtered like sheep.

John

Answer 4

Same day that happened there was a story on the news about some nutcake in a car that killed four people and drove home with a body on his windshield. Isn't it strange that nobody has asked why americans need cars? We live in a hostile world and there are those around the world that would love to see us helpless to defend ourselves against those that would grind us into the dirt at every opportunity. If you are not happy here you are free to leave and live elsewhere.

Answer 5

In the past, when pathetic mopes like the Omaha killer would attempt suicide, it was with a rope from an overhead beam in the barn. If they failed in the attempt, they would be lobotomised and sterilised.
Now, every loser and whiner is given prozac to lift his spirits, and decides the path to glory is a murderous rampage ending in a hail of police bullets.
What the bloody hell is wrong with this picture?????

Answer 6

My dear sir,

The Second Amendment is not about hunting animals. It is about the right of the people to defend themselves from not only criminals like that little monster in Omaha, but to defend themselves against government tyranny.

But you are right, American citizens should not be limited to semi-automatic weapons. Every American should have access to full automatic and selective fire weapons!!

Haven't you noticed that all these shooting sprees occur in "gun free zones?" When was the last time you heard of someone going into a gun shop, or a crowded shooting match and starting to shoot bystanders? These sick SOBS go to areas where they know that potential victims will be forced by law to be unarmed.

Haven't you considered that if American citizens were as well and consistently armed as Israeli citizens, some one would have shot that little bugger before he emptied his first magazine?

Have you not stopped to think that the Omaha gunman was a convicted felon who was legally barred from firearms possession?

I have another tidbit of news for you. That cheap ChiCom SKS rifle did not drag that boy into the mall, fire itself at the shoppers, and them kill the boy. That boy illegally acquired that rifle, from I know not whence, that boy took the rifle to the mall, and knowingly aimed it at other human beings and took their lives. He did it, not the rifle.

Just be glad he was using a cheap SKS semi-automatic rifle. If he'd been using an expensive and well made rifle like a Browning BLR (Browning Lever-Action Rifle) chambered for .30-'06, or .300 WinMag, the added power and penetration would probably have resulted in more deaths, with multiple woundings from each shot. And he's have been more likely to have hit the people at whom he aimed.

Doc

Answer 7

It isn't even a question. There's no need to justify basic rights. If we were to go down that road, it would make a lot more sense to ban the news stories, since that was his motivation. This sick attempt at celebrity, not the weapon used, is the common thread in these tragedies. By the way, I can put out as much firepower with an old lever-action rifle of the type seen in the cowboy movies as with a semi-auto. "Feel-good" firearms restrictions are nonsensical.

Answer 8

It is entirely possible to misuse anything but that does not mean that those who handle the thing in a responsible manner should be deprived of it. A few months ago, it was in the news about some kids beating a homeless man to death with a skateboard. Should we outlaw skateboards? Every day someone drinks and drives and kills someone. Should we outlaw cars?

The kid who killed all of those people would have done it with whatever he could get his hands on. He just happened to get his hands on his dad's rifle. In his condition, if he had not had a rifle, he would have found some other way to kill people. Perhaps with a car, perhaps with fire, who knows? The important thing was that he was in such a state of mind that he wanted to kill someone.

Guns have been made illegal in Australia, Japan, England and other nations and yet when someone wants to commit murder in these countries, they find a way. The danger is not that we have these weapons, the dangeer is when we don't have them and are at the mercy of the criminal element.

Answer 9

They are necessary as a back-up to guarantee our freedom.

Like for example if those in power suddenly decide to go communist or even ultra-socialist on the American people, or try to change the Constitution such as take away our second amendment rights, then the American people will have a means to preserve our hard won freedoms given to us by our forefather through the same means.

Answer 10

To protect us from the government of the United States. People forget that the Constitution limited the scope of government. The Bill of Rights was designed to protect the people from the excesses of government. And don't give me that old "Militia" = National Guard tap dance. The PEOPLE were given the right to keep and bear arms, the states weren't given the right to organize a National Guard. Local communities and even private individuals organized, maintained and outfitted militias as they saw fit until the government recognized that doing so was endangering the burgeoning power of a central government that assumed more authority and control than the framers of the Constitution ever imagined. Maybe we don't "need" them; but the Constitution gives us the right to arm ourselves that we might remain a free people. Now stick that in your leftist pipe and smoke it!