Quote Originally Posted by Kiwigrunt View Post
It seems to me that the most important aspect of “assault weapons” (now there’s an emotionally laden term just begging for reactions) is often ignored. The haters usually hinge their rationale around the imagined physical effect of semi automatics with massacre magazines. The Newtown fuknuckle fired up to 11 rounds into each child. I submit he could have done at least the same amount of damage with just a .22 bolt action with enough 10 shot mags, with one aimed shot per target.

I made similar arguments until recently, also pointing out the video of the insane speedshooter who shoots (and hits) with a revolver faster than I can count the shots in real time (with the video's audio track quality).

I became more careful about such technical arguments recently, though. There was a growing unease inside me about the psychological issue. I believe now that many of those who commit mass murder with firearms need to reach a certain threshold of self-esteem and confidence in their firepower. Kind of "taxi driver" on steroids.
Note how often they pose with guns or certain clothes and stuff prior to their murders. The Norwegian nutjob with his fantasy uniform and ridiculous weapons load was an especially obvious case. I suppose he would probably not have dared to attack a couple hundred people with only a pocket pistol, a dual barrel hunting shotgun and a bolt action hunting rifle (an example of a rather reasonable firearms set in a rural setting).

Then again, other nutjobs go on a rampage with a fake Katana...

(It'll be interesting to see if "nutjob" passes the obscenity filter here. I still have no good grasp of which words are caught by such filters and which aren't.)