>>OK, I'll spot you an AR-15, a flat piece of steel, a drill press and a file and I'll check back with you in 24 hours if it's so easy. Seriously, one of the anti-gunners' most damaging myths is that all semi-autos are really machine guns with one part missing. We shouldn't reinforce that myth; in reality it ain't that easy, and it certainly ain't legal.
Well, it's not a case of simply filing metal down. It's not *that* easy. Some power tools would be required to cut the metal and drill holes. (Machine shop tools would be the quickest).
With decent home power tools and a piece of metal roughly the correct thinckness the part could be made in a few hours. If you have a metal shop, I'd say it would take 1/2 hour.
Now, this only works for an AR-15. (Plans are on the internet if you are curious.)
But for most gun enthusiasts, automatic fire is a waste in ways. It's cool to fire once in a while, but over all it just eats away at ammo, and the price of ammo does add up even when purchased in bulk.
Then there is the problem with getting caught with an fully auto weapon.
Finally, most people are concerned with their grouping rather than shooting the hell out of a target.
I myself prefer black powder, very low tech.
I know that an AR and others can be illegally converted with some skill and knowledge, I just try to avoid giving any lurking gun-illiterate readers any ammunition by creating the possibility that any ignorant gang member with a pocketknife can make any semi-auto into a machine gun. I know that sounds ridiculous, but that's exactly what idiots like Kristin Rand and Josh Sugarmann think (or what they want soccer moms to think).
If we allow the antis to perpetuate this and other myths, we open the door to banning them all through ignorance.
I've had several ignorant gun-haters ask me about my semi-auto Kalashnikov rifle "why anyone would own a machine gun?". I explain to them that it's not a machine gun at all.
Then I get hostile comments like "why do you need such a thing to go deer hunting, there won't be anything left of the poor animal". *sigh* I patiently tell them that it doesn't "spray bullets" and I would never use it for deer hunting.
"Then what is it good for...killing as many people as possible?" *groan* No, I tell them, I have never done anything with it but target shooting, but it is designed this way to be reliable and effective for defending one's life. "Against who? A burglar? Are you expecting an army? How many bullets does that thing hold? You're so paranoid."
*arrgh* No, I'm not expecting an army and I'm not especially paranoid, but now that you've mentioned it, this is exactly the sort of weapon that the Second Amendment had in mind for preventing tyranny against a standing army.
"Oh, so you're going to spray that thing against Army tanks and Air Force jets with nuclear bombs? You can't possibly think you gun nuts can beat the Army, do you?" *grrrr* "How do you know that thing hasn't killed some child?"
*silently screaming* Never mind. Please promise me you won't vote or reproduce.