The attack on Orlando LGBT club Pulse on Saturday night was carried out – like so many mass shootings before it – with an assault rifle, of the “AR-15 type”. These weapons have the ability to fire hundreds of rounds per minute, spraying waves of hot lead and fire, giving the shooter the power to mete out death on an industrial scale.
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Their utility in stopping a home invasion is questionable, but this is true of all guns. According to the FBI, for every case of “justifiable homicide” with a firearm in the US – that’s to say, a self-defense shooting – there are 32 murders, suicides or accidental gun deaths. The overwhelming weight of evidence says that the high rate of gun ownership in this country makes us less safe, not more.

Here in the south, pro-gun hysteria is the norm. Men and women who have never gone hunting for anything more challenging than bargains at the mall believe that they are not truly safe until they have amassed their own home arsenals. My home state, Georgia, passed legislation last year making guns legal everywhere, including churches and schools, under one of the most radical pro-gun laws in the country.
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There are many people who insist they “need” a gun – particularly an assault weapon – to feel safe. But unless you are a marine in Fallujah or a Chicago Swat cop, you don’t “need” anything of the sort. You want it, and not in any kind of reasonable way. It’s either because you’re a sociopath or you’re unreasonably afraid. Neither one of those states is a valid place from which to make the decision.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/12/gun-culture-american-south-second-amendment-orlando