Oregon ballot measure to ban "Assault" Weapons

[stanc]

But that is exactly our point: That there are other methods of mass casualties that are equally deadly. This points to the gun not being the problem; or stated differently, banning a certain type of gun isn't going to make a difference.

It's impossible to know how many, if any, of the perpetrators of mass shootings in this country would have conducted their attacks by other means if they hadn't had access to guns.

And, history does show us that banning (or heavily restricting) certain types of weapons actually can make a substantial difference.

There are no grenade attacks, because you can't go to your local sporting goods store and buy a case of fragmentation grenades.

Machine guns are not used in mass shootings, because of the stringent restrictions and background checks on prospective buyers.

Solutions?
1. Institutionalize those who need to be institutionalized

So you want to violate the Constitutional rights of a segment of the population out of fear that a small percentage of them might commit a violent act?

That's exactly what the anti-gun crowd advocates.

I am not willing to "compromise" on semi-auto rifles and "high capacity" magazines. My personal view is that the NFA already violates the 2A. As discussed elsewhere, state constitutional conventions, op-eds by Founding Fathers, personal letters by Founding Fathers indicated that the 2A was:
1. Personal defense
2. State defense (both external security and against internal tyranny)
3. Hunting (this was actually a very limited topic area broached only by a few states)

Yet the 2A itself makes no mention of either hunting or personal defense. Only state defense is noted.