Why do you NEED a car with 585 hp?
Why do you NEED a motorcycle that's capable of going 200 mph?
Why do you NEED a boat with two 455 engines?
Why do you NEED marijuana? Alcohol? Drugs in general?
Why do you NEED anything that's capable of causing an accident, injury or harm?
The fact is we don't NEED any of these things, but in responsible hands, they're not a danger.
The FACTs are that vehicles and swimming pools claim more childrens' lives than guns do. In FACT, they are the number one and number two causes of death for children, firearms being way down the list according to the CDC and Census Bureau.
Now let's look at the deaths that do involve firearms:
FBI murder report by weapon for 2011, Expanded Homicide Data Table 11:
* Total murder victims - 12,664
* total firearms murders - 8,583
* Handguns - 6,220 victims
* Rifles - 323 victims (The so called "assault weapons" are rifles)
* Shotguns - 356 victims
* Knives or cutting instruments - 1,694 victims
* Blunt objects (clubs, hammers, etc.) - 496 victims
* Personal weapons (hands, fists, feet, etc.) - 726 victims
This data tell us that in 2011 a murder victim had:
* 524% more chances to die from a stab wound than from a rifle.
* 225% more chances to die from a punch or a kick than from a rifle.
* 153% more chances to die from a hammer or baseball bat than from a rifle.
* Of all murders 2.25% are committed with a rifle.
* Of all murders 2.81% are committed with a shotgun.
* Of all murders 5.73% are committed with hands, fists or feet.
* Of all murders 13.37% are committed with a knife or cutting instrument.
* Of all murders 49.11% are committed with a hand gun.
Check out the bold print and tell me again why my AR-15 is so special and under attack? Because it LOOKS like a miltary rifle? Because it LOOKS scary?
Look how much more likely you are to die from other causes than you are from an AR-15 and argue THESE statistics...these FACTS.
Now let's look at another subject matter. Many of you are for the legalization of drugs.
"Estimates of the total overall costs of substance abuse in the United States, including productivity and health- and crime-related costs, exceed $600 billion annually. This includes approximately $193 billion for illicit drugs,1 $193 billion for tobacco,2 and $235 billion for alcohol."
Many of you shrug off the alcohol and drug argument when it is brought up in a "we want your guns" debate, and rightfully so. Why would you want to give up your rights, rights that cost more 10 times more Americans' lives than guns ever have?
Alcohol and tobacco are already legal and many of you want to legalize drugs as well. So you're in full support of things which claim and/or destroy more lives than guns because they are things you don't want to give up, despite the danger and the amount of lives they claim.
Do we want to actually have rational discussions or just knee jerk emotional responses without actually taking into account that we're not actually addressing anything by going after a ban on these so-called "assault rifles"?