Letter: Reader says assault weapons, which are intended for mass murder, need to be banned

Assault weapons are designed to kill as many people as possible. They are not suitable for target shooting, skeet shooting, blood sports such as deer hunting, or personal protection. Thus, the only reasons for owning one would seem to be for mass murder or insurrection against government.

Given these premises, there is no reason not to ban assault weapons, The second amendment is not absolute, and the authors surely did not anticipate the awesome firepower of today’s weaponry. Machine guns were banned decades ago, and there is little difference in the killing capacity of assault weapons, especially with extended magazines, or modified to simulate a machine gun’s firing speed.

It is argued that most of the thousands of gun deaths in the U.S. each year are caused not by assault weapons but by handguns. True, but that isn’t a reason not to take out of the hands of disturbed, vengeful people, or those harboring fantasies of overthrowing our government, their weapon of choice.

LEON SCHALLER

Burlington

This article originally appeared on Times-News: Letter: Assault weapons, designed for mass killings, should be banned