No non-sworn civilian should own any device that is DESIGNED to kill a lot of humans efficiently

[spirald]

111. Do you draw the line anywhere?

Should folks be able to pick up an M1 or an M61 for a reasonable price plus a month wait and a $50 background check?

What about artillery? RPGs? Missiles?

In the industrial era of modern weaponry we have developed the ability for a single unskilled individual to commit mass murder on an unprecedented scale. This directly threatens the general welfare and right to life that the U.S. Constitution authorizes "We, The People" to protect via our system of government. Whole classes of laws exist to prevent people and institutions who gain power in some way from trampling the rights of others.

What I hear you saying, via your argument here, is that We, The People don't really have much of a right to prevent military-scale violence in our civilian habitat, and the best we can do is respond to it after-the fact.

Do feel that the right to engage in sporting activities with military-scale hardware is more essential than the right to our collective defense from sporadic assaults and mass killings with highly lethal weaponry?