I really hate to enter into this, because I know how it ends, but...
Originally Posted by keesje
Killing each other with an assault rifle in one hand and that ridiculous 2nd amendment in the other.
First, almost nobody has 'assault rifles'. An assault rifle, by US federal law is a select-fire, fully automatic, military weapon - commonly referred to by the uneducated civilians as, machine guns. The manufacturers have been barred from producing them for the civilian market since 1986 and didn't make many prior to that. Those that do still exist on the market require an extensive criminal and mental background check and the purchase of a specific license or stamp. Under very stiff penalty of law, the gun may not be transferred to anyone without going through this process or through a specially licensed class II gun dealer. These guns cost $10,000 and up and have never, ever been used in any mass shooting in the USA. Ever.
I think you're referring to 'assault weapons'. The term 'assault weapons' was fabricated by the anti-gun group known as Gun Control Inc in the very early 1980s. They use the term to describe any legal semi-automatic hunting rifle that has one or more physical characteristics such as a folding or collapsing stock, threaded barrel, flash suppressor, heat shield, pistol grip, large capacity magazine, etc. They say these are bad guns because they're scary looking, but their physical appearance has absolutely no effect on their function and does not magically turn them into machine guns. These guns are more properly called sporting rifles. The best analogy I can think of right this moment is the young boy driver who puts wide tires, a wing, a scoop, some flashy paint and a loud exhaust on his hatchback. Yes, it looks like a road-race car, but underneath he's still driving grandma's Nissan.
Nevertheless, some sporting rifles have been used in shootings. How many?
In 2011 (latest year for full statistics from the FBI), out of a population of approx 322,000,000 there were exactly 323 murders and non-negligent manslaughters with rifles of any kind - not just sporting rifles. If you do the math, that's literally a per-capita rate of one-in-a-million. The overall gun murder rate in the US is about 3.2 per 100,000 - admittedly on the backside, but underneath the bell curve for 'civilized' society. If you control for population density, in other words, compare like-city to like-city, we're actually well below average compared to just about anyone. But as much as we'd like, we can't just throw out Chicago, Detroit, New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, or Miami...(although I know the country would be better off without them, but that's a different discussion).
So, we don't 'go around killing each other' with either assault rifles (never ever) or sporting rifles for that matter. But those sporting rifles make a heckofa news cycle, don't they?
As for our Second Amendment, what you may find 'ridiculous', those who actually understand it label it the 'palladium of rights'. As your mind seems to be made up because you know all things American, I'll not lecture you on it, its purpose, or why you should actually be envious of its inclusion in our Constitution.
To the topic - yes, idiots and firearms don't mix, hopefully, it's a self-correcting problem.
Have a great day!