Even if you're pro-guns, why on earth are automatic rifles available in America?

I am pro-full gun control as in the UK, but even if America is to retain its right to bear arms, why is this not limited to basic handguns only? Why are automatic rifles available for sale? What possible purpose could buying an automatic rifle serve?

Not to mention configurations to turn them into sniper rifles. I struggle to imagine a scenario where blowing off someone's leg at several hundred meters is considered self defence.

depends who you are defending yourself from. a burglar? a tyrannical government?

From my own recollection of it (I have a shotgun license), I think it was kind of a subtle difference. They won't give you a shotgun license for no reason at all, but I was under the impression that provided you meet the requirements the default position is "we'll give you a license" unless there's a good reason not to, and something like "I want to shoot clays as a hobby" is considered a sufficiently good reason. For a firearms license (ie. rifles generally, and especially anything more exotic than a .22 bolt action thing), even if you meet the requirements the default position is they're not going to give you a license unless you have a good reason for needing it, like working protecting your crops from wildlife. They're rather more stringent in checking why you need it (I think you have to justify each individual gun as well, or at least each "type" of gun).

tldr; shotguns, assume it's fine unless there's a good reason to think otherwise. Anything else, it's not fine unless there's a good reason to think otherwise.

Really? I'm licensed for for .22 and .243 (not that I get to fire the second one often due the limitation of appropriate ranges) and my good reason was same for my .22 target practice. Well that and deer stalking with the .243 is appropriate for. Which I still haven't gotten around to doing since getting it over a year ago.

Actually, I'm going to uni in september I was wondering if you could answer some questions about what to do with my guns before I leave.

Am I able to leave the cabinet and guns at my parents without any keys (mum is a license holder also)
Would I have to inform the firearms licensing office of this and my change of address
Or do I have to sell them before leaving for uni?

Its pretty simple, make it illegal. America doesn't want to do it based on an economic perspective because a lot of their revenue comes from the production of guns, warfare, military and defence contracts which is why their economy picked up far quicker than us with the crisis in the ME

Note: second amendment states citizens have the right to bare arms.

Most argue its their constitutional right.

Its an amendment to begin wit. Why cant they change it? There are 30+ amendments lol...like the abolishment of slavery.

Pretty difficult to defend yourself from a tyrannical government with just guns, when they have drones, tanks, nuclear weapons etc.

In fact, unless you happen to have a gun on you in a holster at all times, it's pretty difficult to defend yourself from a burglar too. Once they break into your house and point their own gun at you, you're not exactly going to say "hey wait, let me go and get mine, lets be fair!".

Given that our last school shooting was Dunblane in 1996. I think his scared approach is the right way to go, don't you? Mean while....Good old USA wrecking that 300+ school shootings this year.

I cant understand why anyone of average intelligence would think guns were a good thing for a country. IDGAF about fire arms classifications. They're bad. End of.

Edit: typo 300 mass shootings in USA in 2015, 144 school shootings since 2013 and 336 incidents where shots were fired near schools.

but if you were after something in .700 I imagine "target practice" might not cut it

Why are automatic rifles available for sale? What possible purpose could buying an automatic rifle serve?

The "self-defence" claim is a myth.
Studies in the US have shown that people who keep a gun in the home are several times more likely to die from gunshot than those without guns.

http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/160/10/929.full
http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-kellermann.htm

most Americans are scared of their neighbours

I am pro-full gun control as in the UK, but even if America is to retain its right to bear arms, why is this not limited to basic handguns only? Why are automatic rifles available for sale? What possible purpose could buying an automatic rifle serve?

Not to mention configurations to turn them into sniper rifles. I struggle to imagine a scenario where blowing off someone's leg at several hundred meters is considered self defence.

Its pretty simple, make it illegal. America doesn't want to do it based on an economic perspective because a lot of their revenue comes from the production of guns, warfare, military and defence contracts which is why their economy picked up far quicker than us with the crisis in the ME

Note: second amendment states citizens have the right to bare arms.

Most argue its their constitutional right.

Its an amendment to begin with. Why cant they change it? There are 30+ amendments lol...like the abolishment of slavery.

Does it make a difference what kind of gun it is? At the end of the day they are all machines designed to kill. How many people die when people with bad intentions get hold of them is just a matter of simple numbers in my opinion, besides the point that in trained hands a hand-gun could be equally as lethal as a automatic weapon.

One of the key gun lobby arguments is that you need a gun because the criminals have them.

Setting aside the reality that far more civilians die from gun accidents in the home and from being shot by their own children or by other family members than any other cause of gun death in the States, the truth is that if gun sales were banned and gun ownership banned, it would then just be a matter for the authorities to progressively hunt down and remove all guns from the streets. The police in many parts of the US have a hard time controlling guns in the hands of criminals because there are so many licensed ones circulating and 'grey market' ones sold at fairs and in other 'relaxed' ways that are nonetheless legal.

One particularly sick fact in US gun industry activities is that for decades, the manufacturs of vicious mass-killing street automatic weapons like the infamous Tech-90 and their ilk deliberately concentrated their sales efforts on high crime cities, effectively servicing the crime industry.

Does it make a difference what kind of gun it is? At the end of the day they are all machines designed to kill. How many people die when people with bad intentions get hold of them is just a matter of simple numbers in my opinion, besides the point that in trained hands a hand-gun could be equally as lethal as a automatic weapon.