The AR-15 is probably the most polarizing firearm currently. I don't pretend to even understand the situation one half as well as experts, but a gun owner who enjoys the hobby but isn't a single issue 2nd amendment voter I struggle with the hard lines in the sand on both sides.
One one side, we have "No one needs a military assault weapon! Ban these offensive (not defensive) weapons!"
OK, well no one needs a car that goes over 60mph. Car crashes kill way more people than guns. No one needs a cheeseburger. Regulating fast-food would do a great deal to combat diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. The government telling me what I NEED doesn't sit right with me.
On the other side, folks that think a million semi automatic poodle shooters are going to keep an oppressive government from crushing our freedoms is not looking at the big picture. First of all, the legislative and executive branches can do more with the pen stroke to put you in figurative chains that are much more binding than literal ones. Leaning on that argument is folly. If .gov wanted to roll through the streets, we don't have the firepower to stop that. I put a lot more faith in young men like my nephew in the Marines saying "hell no!" If given such an order.
Now, at risk of being skewered, can we at least talk about the reason the gun has been used to such great effect? Yes another weapon could do such damage, but man is the AR easy to pack and load up for rapid sustained use. I'm not blaming the gun, but a magazine dump of 30 rounds of 5.56 into a crowd of kids is going to do more potential damage than 17 rounds out of a Glock. I don't know what to do to "fix" the issue, but there is no doubt that the Ar-15 is efficient and effective at the task of doing damage in short order.
I really like the rifle. I own one. It's what I protect my home with, but I will say it took me a long time to pick it back up after Sandy Hook. Like I said, it's not the guns fault. However, my daughter was in kindergarten at the time. The thought of the horror those kids felt at the end of their young lives sickened me beyond measure when I heard the distinctive report of a 5.56. I realize that is projecting, but that was how I felt. It wasn't fun shooting it for a long time.
I realize the genie is out of the bottle. I don't think it needs to go back in, but there needs to be something done to make it even harder for crazy folks to get their hands on these guns. I realize it's a bit knee jerk, but I'll be damned if "our thoughts and prayers are with your families, but..." would be a passable response if this happened to MY daughter, and to be honest and probably unpatriotic she is my number concern of anything in this universe.
Something needs to be done about this. I think it's a combination of hardware (maybe regulating high capacity 30 round and up magazines as we do purchasing the gun themselves) and software (actually following the laws on the books that would protect us from people getting these guns who shouldn't pass a BG check). There has to be something that will at least help.
tl;dr and to answer the topic:
I'm a law abiding citizen who appreciates punching paper with an Ar. However, if you told me I had to do it shooting 6 10 round mags instead of 2 30s, is be ok with that.
