Nobody Needs Assault Rifles (Until They Do)

One of the arguments that anti-2nd-Amendment hoplophobes is that civilians simply don't need assault rifles, therefore they should be illegal.  What weapon, then, is best suited to defend ones family when multiple assailants violate ones home or business?

AR-15 with 30-round magazine

Stephen Bayazes Jr., 57, who lives in an attached apartment in the rear of the business with his wife, said he awoke to a loud bang and the silent store alarm going off.

Police said he got out of bed, grabbed his AR-15 weapon and found three men inside the store.

The men crashed a vehicle into the business and were smashing display cases and taking guns when he said he heard one of the men shout, “kill that (expletive deleted ).”

He told investigators he emptied a .223-caliber 30-round magazine and then retreated to his room to reload.

When he returned, he said he saw the vehicle pulling out from the business.

Note that Mr Bayazes used an entire 30-round magazine, then went back for more.  If anti-2nd-Amendment types had their way, Mr Bayazes - at best - would have been limited to a 10-round magazine.  At worst, they wouldn't allow him a gun at all, which would render him defenceless.

But because anti-2nd-Amendment types didn't have their way, the outcome was very different.

Mr Bayazes' store after the robery

The Aiken County Sheriff’s Office says Eddie Stewart and Franklin Robinson will be charged with burglary 1st, grand larceny and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. Both suspects are still in the hospital and will be taken into custody once they are released.

The Aiken County coroner says the third suspect, 20-year-old K’Raven Goodwin of Eastover, S.C., died from multiple gunshot wounds on Thursday morning.

The whole altercation took but one minute, he said. The burglars escaped with roughly 50 guns that night, however all of them have been returned safely.

But that only happened because Mr Bayazes owns a gun store, right?  If we just made guns illegal, assaults by multiple criminals simply wouldn't happen, right?

A second suspect in the attack on a Tulsa minister was arrested Tuesday night, Tulsa police said.

Markedrik Delmar Wilson, 26, was arrested about 8:40 p.m. after a witness identified him as one of five men who forced their way into the Rev. Kenneth Brooks' home in the 2700 block of North Denver Avenue shortly before 2 a.m. Tuesday, according to police and reports.

......

Five men accused of a home invasion in Wareham where two women say they were raped are now facing Superior Court charges.

Brian Santiago, 20; Justin J. Gomes, Jr., 17; Robert J. Brown, Jr., 18; Jordan J. Gomes, 21 and Kendrick O. Williams, 19 were indicted by a Plymouth County grand jury on Friday in Brockton Superior Court.

All five are charged with four counts of masked armed robbery and one count of armed home invasion. Santiago and Gomes are charged with aggravated rape and Williams is being charged with unlawful possession of a firearm without an FID card.

......

The violence incident unfolded about 1:45 a.m., when a group of four or five men broke into a at near the intersection of Elmwood and Ashland avenues, police said. At least one of the intruders was armed with a handgun.

Four people were inside the home at the time and one of the residents was pistol-whipped, police said.

There are many more such cases.

Have you considered this four-man home invasion in Philadelphia?  Or how about this three-man home invasion in Charlotte, North Carolina?  Or this three-man home invasion in Franklin Country, Alabama?  Or this three-man home invasion in Pawtucket?

There is no better weapon than an assault rifle with which to defend ones family in such a situation, because that is exactly what those weapons are designed to do; defend against multiple assailants at close-to-medium range.  Those who wish to ban such firearms, wish to deprive law-abiding people of the right to defend themselves and their families.  Period.

Finally, anti-2nd-Amendment hoplophobes fail - over and over again - to prove that banning any firearms at all - including assault rifles - reduces crime.  In fact, although sales of such firearms continue to rise, murder rates continue to fall.  The hoplophobes know this.  But their motivation was never to reduce crime.  Their motivation is to exert greater power over their fellow Americans.