Of the 250,000 robbery instances (my un-official figures) every year in the USA, 99.999% are by a small handgun and/or knife or other means.
Prior to the now infamous case in California in 1998 (I think) where some guys actually had AK-47's plus body armour, the only other case involving ANYTHING this powerful was a Police officer gone on a rampage using his issued weapon.
So of the millions of 'armed robbery' cases in the past 20 years it is so typical & hypocritical of the media and the gun-control groups to focus on the 0.000001% of cases where a powerful weapon such as an AK-47 was actually used.
Of the 250,000 robbery instances (my un-official figures) every year in the USA, 99.999% are by a small handgun and/or knife or other means.
Who cares what the percentage is? My and your rights shouldn't be defined (i.e. destroyed) by the actions of street criminals. A right is a right, PERIOD! Street crime has NOTHING to do with the reasoning behind the proposition or adoption of the 2nd Amendment - read Federalist #46 by Madison if you don't understand this.
Can your right to freedom of speech be diminished because some eff'wit yells "FIRE!" in a crowded theater (when, in fact, there is no fire and he knows it), thereby causing the trampling death of X innocent people? Can your right to freedom of religion be diminished by the lunatic actions of James Jones or Osama Bin Laden? Can your right to freedom of the press be diminished by the publication of libelous accusations in some supermarket tabloid? NFW, baby, and so it MUST be with regard to guns. The starting basis for our society was, and must always be, that we each have nearly unlimited freedom. The only limitations are post facto, i.e. after the fact of an abuse of those rights, and those limitations MUST apply ONLY to the abuser(s), not to the citizenry at large.
I know that prophetic and sgtbono 2002 are pro-freedom and pro-gun, but I'm a little bit upset that we keep giving the other side ownership of the terms of the debate. Yeah, it is both easy and understandable, especially given the endless drumbeat of anti-freedom rhetoric from the Leftist press and media, but we've got to wake up. Posing a question about crime and guns, or posting statistics about the same subject, is an invitation for some statist SOB to find or create a fraudulent statistical analysis of how more guns = more crime, and then such questions or answers will lead to confiscation of guns (or a 2nd civil war to prevent it). Stay on your rhetorical and logical toes, guys, or we'll have lost the battle before it begins.