That's the thing. It's clearly an issue with gray areas. It's all well and good to say that every law abiding citizen should be allowed to own whatever arms they want, regardless of the fact that such arms have neither historical or collector value, or any civilian use. But when as bad as gang violence is, imagine if assault weapons, grenades, rocket launchers, and all other manner of "arms" were legal. Chicago would look like the Gaza Strip.
When guns that have no real civilian use -- assault weapons, grenades, etc. -- are made legal, the first people who buy them are criminals and wanna-be terrorists. So gun control makes sense on at least that level.
Now, the arguments being made against gun control are ridiculous.
Quoting the founding fathers is ludicrous. These were not idiots you people are quoting, but they did live in a very different world. A world that didn't have mass manufacturing, assault rifles, jet fighters, tanks, etc. To try to apply the words of men who were amazed by the modernity of the breech-loading rifle to the modern world of mass manufactured weapons that can kill dozens in seconds...that's insane.
And I'm sorry, but if you really think that an armed insurrection will ever be so popular in America as to avoid being labelled a terrorist movement, and crushed accordingly, then you really don't know jack about politics, history or the modern military.
Really at the end of the day, what it boils down to is that owning guns beyond those needed for hunting and self-defense is unnecessary. There's no good reason to own such weapons, and plenty of reasons -- from high school shooters to gang-bangers to
I mean Christ, some of the people in this thread are actually, seriously arguing that the Founding Fathers wanted the average Crip or Blud to be able to stroll down the streets of Compton with an AK-47 slung from his shoulder. That would be the ACTUAL, REAL CONSEQUENCE of these militia-daydreaming fantasies, the actual end result of combing this love of "open carry" and "why shouldn't I have an assault rifle?"
That's why people call you gun
nuts, because you can't see that such an irresponsible viewpoint turns these guys:
Into these guys:
And guess what? Nobody wants that! Just because the founding fathers wanted to protect the right of a bunch of farmers to defend themselves from a bunch of politicians doesn't mean that the wisdom still applies. The cost of entertaining these fairy tales of a second american revolution are just too damn high.