# No, you don't need a semiautomatic rifle **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 11, 2021, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705 "2021-02-11T17:51:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2021, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705/181 "2021-02-12T23:40:21Z")
> [@MrMrmrmr](#): > > Are you unwilling to gain rifleman skills so you can be part of the militia that defends the USA if needed? Encouraging that sort of delusion is exactly why that program needs to be cut. Were you there defending the USA on the 6th? If not, what good was your rifleman training? ---
**Author:** ![MrMrmrmr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrmrmrmr/32/5828_2.png) [@MrMrmrmr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrMrmrmr)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2021, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705/182 "2021-02-12T23:43:50Z")
Would you be ok with using technology to search everyone in public for hidden handguns? People with CCW licenses could have a chip to allow them to avoid problems. We could get the guns that cause the most gun crimes off the street in a short time. ---
**Author:** ![MrMrmrmr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrmrmrmr/32/5828_2.png) [@MrMrmrmr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrMrmrmr)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2021, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705/183 "2021-02-12T23:45:24Z")
Is that a yes or no? I was a little bit too far away on the 6th. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2021, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705/184 "2021-02-12T23:45:29Z")
> [@MrMrmrmr](#): > > Would you be ok with using technology to search everyone in public for hidden handguns I would not be OK with violating the Fourth to allow a ludicrous interpretation of the Second, no. ---
**Author:** ![MrMrmrmr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrmrmrmr/32/5828_2.png) [@MrMrmrmr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrMrmrmr)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2021, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705/185 "2021-02-12T23:46:18Z")
Why? It would actually solve the problem. ---
**Author:** ![MrMrmrmr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrmrmrmr/32/5828_2.png) [@MrMrmrmr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrMrmrmr)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705/186 "2021-02-13T00:02:14Z")
> **[The legal loopholes that let people get automatic guns](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/4/16412910/automatic-guns-las-vegas-shooting)** > > Here’s how the Las Vegas shooter could have obtained an automatic weapon. Fighting your ignorance here. Full auto rifles are bought and sold every day in the USA. Go to [gunbroker.com](http://gunbroker.com) . ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705/187 "2021-02-13T01:36:06Z")
> [@MrMrmrmr](#): > > Would you be ok with using technology to search everyone in public for hidden handguns? People with CCW licenses could have a chip to allow them to avoid problems. We could get the guns that cause the most gun crimes off the street in a short time. I’ll bite, sure. Would you be willing to make the whole of the United States a shall issue jurisdiction then? ---
**Author:** ![MrMrmrmr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrmrmrmr/32/5828_2.png) [@MrMrmrmr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrMrmrmr)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705/188 "2021-02-13T01:43:33Z")
I don’t see the downside of shall issue, so yes. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705/189 "2021-02-13T02:47:45Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Because that’s what appeals to the gun fetishists and soldier cosplayers that imagine themselves the Minute Men of the new American Revolution; it’s about _perception_ . An AR-15… Do you know how few right wing Militia idiots there are, as opposed to how many AR15s? This is like condemning pickup trucks because those same Right wing idiots usually drive one of them. Or like banning Dodge Chargers since one of them had a SCA flag on it. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705/191 "2021-02-13T02:57:26Z")
No True Scotsman. This is always used when Cherry Picking what Nations to use. Somehow you have to include the USA, and exclude Mexico and several others, and Mexico is indeed a developed first world nation, and so is most of South America. But isn’t this getting a bit far afield from your OP? But it is clear why: OK, we have _proven_ that: 1. Rifles- of all sorts- **are not the problem when it comes to violent crime.** 2. There is a real need for a semi-automatic hunting rifle. Your OP is asked and answered. You were totally, completely wrong. Doesnt happen much here in GD, but you _did_ limit your Op pretty narrowly. Thus it wasnt hard to prove you wrong. So _then_ it was 'semi-automatic rifles with large magazine capacities. " which as have been proven have real uses and are mucho fun to many- and again- **are not the problem when it comes to violent crime.** So now it’s on to mass shootings of all sort and I guess gun deaths. Suicides I suppose. What’s next? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705/192 "2021-02-13T03:02:00Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > By why cherry-pick mass shootings at all, when overall gun death rates are probably more important. More Cherry picking. Why GUN deaths? Why not homicides from all causes? And why include suicides? 🤔I know why- because the USA is smack dab in the middle of ALL nations of homicides per capita. _Damn,_ I sure called it above. Yep, when anti gun peoples arguments are frustrated on all front, they start adding in suicides to inflate the "gun deaths’ figure. So super bogus. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705/193 "2021-02-13T03:41:02Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > More Cherry picking. Why GUN deaths? Why not homicides from all causes? Because, in case you haven’t noticed, we’re talking about guns. The rest of your tired old talking points are the same ones we’ve gone around and around many times before. I’m tired of beating my head against the wall arguing with you about this. Suicides are often included in the figures because gun suicides are much more often fatal than other methods and easy access to this lethal device is part of the American gun tragedy. But you can eliminate suicide and focus only on gun deaths from homicide and the US is still an extraordinary outlier. I’ll just post this chart but I’m no longer responding to your repetitive denial of gun violence reality. [![](https://cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/3672.jpeg) ](https://cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/3672.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705/194 "2021-02-13T03:47:27Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Because, in case you haven’t noticed, we’re talking about guns. No, we are talking about _semi-automatic rifles_. See the Op? And see how super cherry picked that is "…in selected developed countries’ 🤨 Yep, “selected” to show the USA with high numbers. So totally bogus it might as well be from the trump lawyers. Did Rudy write that? jeezuskeerist. If we are gonna cherry pick, let me tell you about Japan- NO GUNS AT ALL- but a much higher suicide rate. “gun suicides are much more often fatal” suuuuure. Look, the OP was about **semi-automatic rifles**. They kill less people than _boating_ for fucks sake. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705/195 "2021-02-13T03:58:03Z")
So why do you suck at hunting so bad you can’t use the types of rifles that are legal in Britain? ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705/196 "2021-02-13T04:11:41Z")
Because there are no elk in the UK? Or bears, hogs, prarie dogs, coyotes, mountain lions, wolves, bison etc I know this is a crazy concept but there are different tools for different jobs. The correct rifle for a bison hunt is totally different than an antelope hunt and neither have a whole lot in common with feral hogs. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705/197 "2021-02-13T04:20:02Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > prarie dogs Ok. It is **prairie** dog. I waited til I couldn’t stand it. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705/198 "2021-02-13T04:21:11Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > I know this is a crazy concept but there are different tools for different jobs. The correct rifle for a bison hunt is totally different than an antelope hunt and neither have a whole lot in common with feral hogs. Ahhhh, you don’t just shoot pest animals - you’re also into shooting endangered species? Good to know. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705/199 "2021-02-13T04:22:10Z")
Huh? What are you talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705/200 "2021-02-13T04:24:08Z")
Shooting overpopulated deer and coyotes is one thing; shooting bison, wolves, and mountain lions is a different matter entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705/201 "2021-02-13T04:32:26Z")
[Bison hunts](https://wgfd.wyo.gov/hunting/wild-bison-hunting-information) have been part of conservation management of the Yellowstone herds for decades . Still no idea what your talking about Mountain lions are one of the few animals you can hunt with dogs in [New Mexico](http://www.wildlife.state.nm.us/hunting/information-by-animal/big-game/cougar/) You can harvest up to 15 wolves per year in Idaho. Those are just the normal hunting seasons I know off the top of my head. You really need to get out more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-a-semiautomatic-rifle/932705.md?page=11)