You know you're in trouble when even Salon destroys the "assault weapon" myth

[gejohnston]

3. the the words of Sam Harris

on the event "those who don't know anything about guns are confused and those who do are being dishonest." These are actually less powerful than grandpa's deer rifle, unless he uses this round for deer hunting. First, mass murders are statistically rare. Since this was a terrorist attack, he blocked the exits and would have got the same results with a couple of petrol bombs.

BTW, this isn't an assault rifle. True assault rifles have been pretty much banned when FDR was in office. Assault rifles are capable of automatic fire, like the ones used in Charlie Hebdo and the Paris night club. Europe and Thailand has far more terrorist attacks than we do per capita. Machine guns have been banned in Europe since, well, probably forever. That didn't stop people like the Red Brigade back in the day or Islamic fundies now.

My argument is that it doesn't solve a problem, simply grandstanding for elections and petty culture wars.