The Bobcat Nation

I know Montana is the land of the free gun and all, but I have read a couple articles on the assault weapon ban legislation that is about to disappear at the end of today and it has caused me a great deal of thought on which side of the issue I would come down on.
On one hand for the life of me I can not see what anyone would do with an assault rifle, other than things that as society we would really prefer that people do not due. Murder, comes to mind off hand.
On the other hand it is written directly into our constitution the so called right to bear arms. and I do believe our founding fathers thought it important that the citizenry have the right to defend themselves. While I know these same fathers had never invisioned the power of an AK47, it is still there in the constitution and as of yet this portion of the 2nd amendment has yet to be repealed.

I would guess that a male dominated MONTANA based sports board we be pretty much pro gun rights and anti-extending the assault ban. Am i right?

link:

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040913_848.html

Sorry for the edits to your post, Msla, but I just couldn't take the word "artical" anymore. That's the downside of having moderator power -- I start reading stuff like I am proofreading one of my writing projects, and I become an impulsive editor.

Am I correct in thinking that the main argument against the assualt rifle ban is the "slippery slope" argument, whereby people contend that it is just one step closer to a full ban on guns? Otherwise, outside of purposes of collecting such guns (people collect lots of strange things), is there any non-mass murdering use of such an item?

Slippery slope is part of the issue, but you have to also consider supply/demand. Last I checked, there were a lot of crimes committed with “banned assault weapons”, and these ain’t 11 yr old guns. You can still get them, just pay a higher price, and buy them as kits to be put together. There were some loop holes that made an unassembled gun in some cases legal to buy, not sure if that is still the case. My bottom-line, you can’t ban things and realistically think they are gone from a creative, resourceful free trade economy. As we see with drugs, porn, and insider trading, we love to pursue what we are not allowed to have, never stopped anyone from getting the goods. But, for some it makes them feel better to have a false sense of security. Just a few thoughts from a gun lover (not assault weapons), who likes to find ways to manage our problems vs forcing the gov’t to hide/sugar coat them.