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How easily can you modify one of the AR15 platforms to create a fully automated weapon?
Quick Google shows quite a few hybrid(?) legal conversation kits. So its all well and good saying it's only a semi-automatic, but it's meaningless when it's perfectly easy to fire multiple shots in quick succession anyway and you could probably illegally convert it anyway.
It feels a bit like the old joke about asking for directions and being told "well I wouldn't start from here".
hugo7-
True... To be honest it's kind of a moot point – the impact damage is similar either way but the AR15 isn't meant to be a spray and pray.
The fact is, the bullet leaves the barrel at 3x the speed of a 9mm pistol and the gun barely recoils doing so. It's meant to be as lethal as possible and buying one seems to be way too trivial.One idea would be to impose regional restrictions (must be stored at a gun range if in a city unless for hunting in the country on a farm or something, then can be kept in a safe) on top of more extensive background checks that take weeks, not minutes.
Just make them more of a pain in the ass to get and keep. That would make them more collectable and thus less likely to be used on people.
It should be like getting a driving licence in Finland.
Well_is_it
This is a pretty nuanced article about the whole gun control issue, specifically with AR-15s.
http://www.vox.com/2016/6/20/11975850/ar-15-owner-orlando
Just to nit-pick, they aren't assault riffles, they're semi-automatic. Assault riffles carry on firing when you hold down the trigger...
I think at this stage it would be nearly impossible to ban guns in America (which is a shame because that would, you know, solve the problem). The genie is out of the bottle. Clearly, they need more control over access though.
The problem seems to be (apart from the fact that guns are legal and too easily acquired) a numbers issue; America has a population of 318.9 million. Statistically, there are just always going to be way more people with mental health issues in a country where they can pop out and get a gun and loads of ammo.