fired several shots at short range with an assault rifle

[benEzra]

2. Would you be happier

if the murderers had used military-style bolt-actions instead, like the murderer in Pennsylvania? Or semiautos with straight wooden stocks, since you ostensibly don't want to ban those?

Rifles are the least misused of all weapons in California, just like they are nationwide, but you already knew that.

Murders in California, by weapon type, 2012 (FBI):

[font face="Courier New"]
Total murders...................... 1879
Handguns............................ 899 (47.8%)
Firearms (type unknown)............. 315 (16.7%)
Knives and other cutting weapons.... 261 (13.8%)
Clubs, rope, fire, etc.............. 227 (12.1%)
Hands, fists, feet................... 87 (4.6%)
Shotguns............................. 52 (2.7%)
Rifles............................... 38 (2.0%)[/font]

Like the head of the gun-control lobby said back when rifle crime was much higher than it is now:

&quot O)ur organization, Handgun Control, Inc. does not propose further controls on rifles and shotguns. Rifles and shotguns are not the problem; they are not concealable."

--Nelson T. "Pete" Shields,Guns Don't Die--People Do, Priam Press, 1981, pp. 47-48 (head of what is now the Brady Campaign 1978-1989).

Being a law enforcement officer is also a whole lot safer now than it was then, thankfully.