Connecticut massacre fallout

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

I'm the first to admit I don't know much about firearms; never had a particular interest in them, and no real desire to own one. So, since a lot of you are gun owners, I'll ask you-

Do you think a limit on number of guns someone who is not commercially involved in firearm sales may own is a good idea, and if so, what would that number be?

I understand there is a lot of argument over what constitutes an "assault" weapon. As a non-gun person, my question is over the necessity of a private citizen owning something that fires a large number of rounds in a short amount of time, as it seems to me the purpose of such a weapon is to hit a large number of targets in a short amount of time, which doesn't seem to me, to be useful either in self-defense or in recreational shooting (where, I assume, developing the skill required to shoot accurately is part of the appeal). Basically, other than as a item to brag about or to have swiped by someone planning to carry out a large-scale assault on a movie theater or school or whatever, can someone explain to me under what circumstances a private citizen would actually have use for a high capacity, rapid discharge firearm?

Again, sincerely asking.

And for the record, "To defend oneself against the guvmint" is not an acceptable answer, as the guvmint, should it decide to come against a private citizen, will be able to do it. To my knowledge, we've only had one citizens' uprising on a scale that had any chance of success and it ended in 1865 with the government winning.

That is a huge question, how many guns. For instance, whether i owned 1 or 1000, i wouldnt be any more inclined to break the law. For others, one is one too many. Who decides?
As for type...that is probably a slightly easier question. There is already a line between arms a citizen can own and what the military has. I doubt i could ever own a fully functionable rocket launcher for instance.
We do need to have a serious dialogue. And i mean serious. But people do need to understand that we cannot prevent every tragedy. Nor can we tell a lot of law abiding gun owners that they must give up their weapons.