High gun ownership makes countries less safe, US study finds

[NickB79]

38. Semi-automatic weapons clearly aren't "unusual"

Seeing as semi-auto handguns capable of accepting high-capacity magazines outnumber revolvers by an order of magnitude, and semi-auto rifles like the AR-15 and AK have been some of the most widely sold long guns in the US for over a decade. Hell, even the venerable pump-action shotgun is being displaced by semi-auto variants. The days of hunters taking old-fashioned lever-action .30-30's and bolt-action Remingtons into the field have passed.

The reality is that most Americans who purchase guns today DO feel a semi-automatic firearm capable of accepting high capacity magazines is the best option for self-defense, hunting and other uses, and use them for those purposes every day. If you want to propose restrictions on the magazines that are used in these guns, have at it. The old AWB set 10 rounds as a limit, and I think that was a good compromise. But from a technical standpoint, there is nothing new or unusual about a gun capable of firing multiple shots from a magazine without working the action (unless you are from the late 1800's).