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"[Assault rifle] means a lot in terms of marketability, though!" Money, more importantly. That's why people who want to starve the gun industry make them illeg
by jeffdavis 9y ago
"[Assault rifle] means a lot in terms of marketability, though!"
Money, more importantly. That's why people who want to starve the gun industry make them illegal; not because they are dangerous, but because they are a good revenue source for the industry.
Also, assault rifles are favored by younger enthusiasts, so banning them is a way to nip the market in the bud.
- nicolashahn 9y agoI don't think that's the reasoning behind it. I think it's more that they've been made the scariest form of gun by the media (disregarding the fact that pistols kill an order of magnitude more people). Any time a semi-automatic centerfire magazine fed rifle is used in a mass shooting, media outlets want to focus on the weapon the shooter used. Then people who know nothing about guns except that they hate them rally to ban the ones with the aesthetic features they've seen on TV, and that's how you get idiotic legislation like California's assault weapon laws (ex: a rifle with a pistol grip is illegal while the exact same gun with a rifle stock is legal).