If They want to ban guns, how about they go about repealing and replacing the Second Amendment. Anything else is an infringement upon the Second Amendment.
It's all about feelings and how to channel those into fear.
Here’s the problem in this sentence:
“If you’re gonna engage in an honest and productive debate...”
You can’t debate a 50 IQ leftist. They don’t debate or think; they feel. Once that is understood, you can debate them on their emotional level, which includes:
1. Threats of violence.
2. Violence.
3. Death.
President Reagan understood that and used it to great advantage to collapse the former Soviet Union.
Australia just outlawed these, said tooo assaulty looking, it's bolt action... 
But it looks black!
I call the AR-15 the perfect Girl Gun. (Yes I know it is a rifle, but I needed the G).
If someone breaks into my house, I want my wife armed with something that looks very scary! Secondly, it has very little recoil. Third, it has a large magazine. My wife under stress is bound to miss a few times. Also, the perp may not be alone.
Oh I had a good one a few days ago. One guy down the road told me that we dont need these types of firearms. He asked me why does anyone need them-he is a flaming liberal. I told him people need them because of people like him.
Then he went on the rant about how these firearms kill. I told him that these firearms cant hold a candle to the death rate of abortion which is 100%.
I walked away from him and left his ass out in the middle of the desert sputtering.
