Hey, you’re right. I also use my butter knife for a lot of things other than butter, such as: brie, jelly, jam, nutella, spreading mayo, cutting my over-easy eggs, etc. Yeah, it turns out it’s useful for a lot more than just butter. It’s almost as if it’s a multipurpose tool that has many different and acceptable uses. I think you’re on to something.
Okay, you named six alternatives there to butter.
What are the six uses of your semi-automatic rifle that don’t involve the threat of killing people? Because I can think of two- target shooting and hunting. And neither of those require the sort of rifles or handguns used in most modern mass shootings.
Please define your new take in the interpretation of the word “sole”.
The actual sole purpose of what most people refer to as an “assault rifle” is just to be a modern, reliable, modular platform that can be customized to fit the needs and use cases of the owner. It’s good at that, and so it’s good at being customized for a lot of different uses.
The hunting argument you make is dumb. You would need to turn around and argue that any advancement of any produce anywhere that allows it to perform even marginally better than absolutely necessary needs to be undone. The fastest posted speed limit in the united states is 85mph, and yet every modern vehicle can exceed that by a lot…some of them by double. It doesn’t mean the sole purpose of the car is to break speed limits.
If you break it down by time used for any one specific purpose, then the primary use case of an assault weapon is to be stored in a box or a case, unused (that is what the vast majority are doing the vast majority of time). I would argue the primary purpose is synonymous to the use case of an insurance policy (something you have in case you need it but don’t actually ever use it). The next most common use (by time spent performing in the role) is to exist solely as a show-of-force without even being fired -and that seems to work pretty well because just imagining the appearance of one tends to get people upset and agitated. For the rifles that actually get used regularly, practice is another common use (using it to maintain proficiency with marksmanship skills) and also shooting for fun (which isn’t always/necessarily practice) is a common use case. In the past, I have used mine for both hunting and for protection against potentially dangerous wile animals while hiking through the vast wilderness of the pacific northwest - I personally don’t like the idea of having to mess around with a clumsy bolt action in the event I might need to fire multiple shots.
From the gun manufacturer’s perspective, the ‘sole purpose’ of “assault rifles” isn’t to “kill people as fast as possible”, it’s to: sell weapons and make profit. The “sole purpose” of a thing is defined by the user…and at least in the united states that means a lot of things other than killing people.
I didn’t say anything about purpose. I specifically said use. As did you. So that’s all irrelevant. You named six uses for a butter knife. You have not for a gun. I wonder why?
I already replied to a similar comment hours before you posted this one. In summary, you are moving the goalposts of the specific comment chain I replied to, and in any case pretending these are not weapons designed to kill doesn’t strengthen your argument, it makes it look disingenuous.
If you want to argue in favor of gun rights, be as honest as the other guy. You are arguing for the right to kill people in specific situations. I’m not saying there isn’t some merit to that argument, I’m saying be honest about it, because this whole “nuh-uh they weren’t really designed to kill people” thing is dishonest and doesn’t serve your purposes.
