Great video discussing the upcoming legislation. If it doesn't scare the pants off you, you should head out to the first gun buy back line you can find.
In the words of an actor and in reference to assault weapons, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
Below are a few links. They are from hunters. It would behoove you or someone in your office to look at them and think about what they mean.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v502/CaptnC/12-8-07Hogs.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v502/CaptnC/11-10-07_AK_hog_bst.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb77/bust_em/Hunting/110709/IMG_4459.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll9/motovarmint/0130000803.jpg
http://pictures.second-amendment.org/albums/userpics/10001/pig-ar.jpg
http://cdn.ammoland.com/files/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/AR15-pig-hunting.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v252/dennishoddy/Photo0042.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv119/seagrunt/100_3056.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...AR15.jpg/800px-243_WSSM_Olympic_Arms_AR15.jpg
http://www.gunandgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/deer_comp_large.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v252/dennishoddy/P1010048.jpg
The AK-47 patterned rifles in the first pictures are chambered in 7.62x39. It is almost identical to the venerable .30-30, the iconic deer-hunting cartridge common to lever-action rifles. The average AK-patterned rifle is about as accurate as the average lever action rifle. Unlike the lever-action rifles, AK-patterned rifles' reliability and ease of handling make them more suitable for dispatching hog and wolf, which frequently travel in groups in thick brush and can very quickly become aggressive toward humans.
The AR-15 in the latter group of pictures can be chambered in many different calibers. It is, in fact, one of the most widely used hunting rifles in the United States. It is reliable, versatile, and inherently accurate (on average about as accurate or only slightly less so than the average entry level bolt action rifle by Savage Arms, Remington, or Winchester). This rifle is without a doubt the most popular centerfire, semi-automatic rifle owned in the United States.
Having said this, the vast majority of firearms owners in the United States do not hunt. As of August 2012, as reported by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in a study for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, about 13.7 million Americans hunted between 2007 and 2012. There are over 270 million firearms in the United States. According to the US Census Bureau, in 2009 over 40% of households in the country reported owning firearms. A 2005 nationwide Gallup poll of 1,012 adults found that only 40% of them owned firearms to hunt; nearly 70% owned them for personal protection.
In studying the 1994 Assault Weapon Ban, rise of Shall Issue concealed carry licensing, and other gun laws, the Center for Disease Control found "insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of any of the firearms laws or combinations of laws reviewed on violent outcomes" (First Reports Evaluating the Effectiveness of Strategies for Preventing Violence: Firearms Laws). The following charts also warrant inspection:
http://www.justfacts.com/images/guncontrol/chicago.png
http://www.justfacts.com/images/guncontrol/chicago_handguns.png
http://www.justfacts.com/images/guncontrol/dc.png
These are consistent with the CDC and economist John Lott's findings that gun control laws appear to have no impact on crime rates, violent or otherwise, or on whether firearms are used in crimes.
As a peace loving citizen and law enforcement officer in training, I urge you and your office to either reconsider your position on new and largely pointless (symbolic) legislation, or to explain in vivid detail exactly why each named item in the proposed ban infringes upon someone else's exercise of life, liberty, and the pursuits thereof.
Thank you for your time and stay safe.
Sincerely,
J