Practical Reasoning and Explanation

   In the wake of the tragic Connecticut shootings there has been a loooot of talk about gun control. I've read articles from both sides of the argument and the majority of the articles I've read tend to lean very far to one side or the other. This is to be expected. However in conversations I've had with people who support a supposed "Assault Weapons Ban" I've noticed that a couple of things come up every time. First, the concept of an assault weapon is ill defined and many who support such a ban don't really know what an assault weapon is. Secondly they tend to say that we as citizens have no use for what they call "assault weapons" and that they are unnecessary.
   To address the first topic one must understand what is and is not an assault weapon.
   This is an assault weapon:

This is not an assault weapon:

You're saying "Wait! They look the same!" Aha! They do, yes, but the difference is subtle and very important. The first is a military firearm, an M-16 and it has a feature that the other doesn't.

It has a third fire selection option, fully automatic fire. That is when the trigger is depressed the firearm continues to fire until the trigger is released or it runs out of ammunition.
The second image is that of a civilian model AR-15 (the AR does not stand for Assault Rifle, it stands for Armalite, the company that invented the platform). The AR-15 is in essence and function the same as any other civilian model semi-automatic firearm. The only difference is that it looks like a military rifle. This is what many people get caught up on. Another thing that people get caught up on is the definition of semi-automatic, people hear the automatic part and think machine gun. That is not the case with semi-autos. Semi-automatic fire is when the trigger is depressed the firearm discharges the round in the chamber, resets the trigger and action with a fresh round. In order for the gun to continue firing the trigger must then be released and pulled again. Not a machine gun.
   Now we move into the second topic. What use do we as citizens have for even the semi-auto versions of these kinds of firearms? We have many! Let me show you!
Competition!

Hunting!

 Home Defense!

 and most important, the reason that the Second Amendment is in the Constitution, defending your Freedom...

As you can see we have many reasons to own these types of firearms, some are more important than others and that is why it is foolish to want to ban something so useful and important to the continuation of "The Land of the Free." Thank you.