The term assault rifle has become a catch-all phrase for the anti-gun people so much that their understanding of the meaning (as incorrect as it is) of the phrase has been so accepted by most people today that it actually inhibits most people from being able to have an honest discussion. You (speaking generally) cannot have an honest discussion on any topic if one side is talking about something using terms with an incorrect understanding of the terms while the other side, using the same terms, has a different concept using the correct meaning. For many on one side, the look of a firearm is used as their meaning of an assault rifle instead of the true meaning. So one person is talking about one thing while the other is talking about something different.
That isn't meant to be a dig at you, Paige, I am simply stating that in order to have a real discussion, everyone has to agree to what the meanings of the terms being used are.
Assault rifle's, as you describe them, "we called them machine guns, automatic weapons" were banned in 1934 with the National Firearms Act (NFA), it is still the law and they are still banned. That's why we haven't seen a Tommy Gun used in a very long time.
A lot of people get the term assault rifle mixed up the the true meaning of the "AR" in guns like the AR-15. AR actually stands for "Armalite," the name of the company that first made the rifle in the 1950s.
I believe you are correct, Paige, in that we should be looking at what has changed in people in the last 20-30 years.
When I was a kid, we played with toy guns all the time. We were also taught about real guns, gun safety, and gun responsibility. My generation didn't grow up shooting everyone who had a different opinion or who said something we didn't like; and we grew up riding around with gun racks, and guns, in the back windows of our pickup trucks. We also grew up with adult neighbors who were not only allowed, but thanked, for disciplining us when needed, schools that were allowed to discipline us, respecting our elders, saying yes/no mam/sir, and having to get the switch ourselves to hand to our parents to use (it only took one (1) time to think getting the thinnest and most flexible one would be a good thing LOL). Of course, I don't believe these are the only areas that should be looked into for answers, but they should at least be ones we are willing to look into.
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