Jon Stewart's plea for gun control
So, you don't object to a ban on assault rifles, since in your words, it isn't anything special, and you don't need any of those attachments, right?
Where did he say it isn't anything special? He did say that laser sights are worthless on an assault rifle but never said that assault rifles are nothing special, nor did he say attachments are nothing special.
One of these guns kill thousands of people a year. Same style and caliber.
The other two combined kill less than 400 a year (all styles and calibers).
One of these guns look really scary.
One of these guns looks like something you would see in old westerns.
The one that looks like it would be in the old westerns uses a massive round that inflicts an incredible amount of damage. It needs to though, it is used to kill Elk, Moose, Bear, Deer and other large game.
The one that looks really scary shoots a relatively small round. It is a high speed round and it is very useful when hunting feral hog and other animals with tough skin and/or thick fat.
The name assault rifle is used because these weapons are based off of military style weapons that are lightweight, offer large capacity, can be customized for many different situations, offer range but aren't oversized for tight spaces. Military assault rifles can come in single fire, 3 round burst, 4 round burst, fully automatic or select fire that can be switched from single shot, burst or fully automatic.
The civilian style assault rifles do have a purpose but with extremely limited numbers (and highly watched) only come in semi-automatic. The best example is feral hog hunting. The gun is lightweight which is terrific since chasing hogs can cover many miles, can be equipped with a flashlight since most hog hunting is at night, more durable and easier to clean. They also offer higher capacity since many times you need several rounds or can get on a group and can take out several at a time. The civilian style is great to shoot at a range since it is lightweight, comfortable and the ammo is relatively cheap.
What people like me don't understand is why go after the type of gun that is used to kill the fewest amount of people? All rifles account for so few murders every year that there are so many different items that kill more people. Screwdrivers, knives, baseball bats, etc all kill many more people. Shotguns and handguns kill more people.
As for the mass shootings, a pistol was used in all of the 11 deadliest with the only exception being the UT sniper. Some had other weapons to go with the pistols, some were rifles some shotguns some all three. Many are saying that the only reason for the really high death numbers are from assault rifles but the Virginia Tech shooting is still the second deadliest and nothing more than pistols were used.
The anti-gun crowd is going after the assault rifle because it has a limited use, it looks scary and it is the gun they will have the least resistance to getting banned. They are trying to ban assault rifles just to say they got it banned. The pistol also has a limited use but they already know that is a losing battle. They don't look scary, a huge number of people have them and even though it is hands down the most popular murder weapon in the US, they aren't going down that road.
Here are the guns pictured below. Also included is a chart, the bullet with the red arrow on the left is the .223 round used in the assault rifle. The red arrow to the right is the one used with the winchester .300 (old western gun). Don't for one second think that buying or making high capacity magazines for the hunting rifle isn't common.