Considering ALL rifles caused 358 firearm deaths in 2011, and so-called "assault rifles" (meaning semiauto sporting rifles like ARs, semi AKs, etc.) are a subset of that so they caused even less deaths. Semiauto sporting rifles are rarely used in crimes. The average crime where a gun is discharged has 3 rounds discharged, not much a 10 round magazine would do to stop that. And considering the most fired gun at Columbine used ban-legal 10 round magazines, I'm not at all confident at the claim that bans on magazines over 10 rounds would do lots to stop mass shootings, I think it would have little to no effect. The previous "assault weapons ban" is agreed to have had no impact on firearm crime or firearm deaths.

Another thing, a 5.56 (AR15 round) and 7.62x39 (AK47 round), and 5.45 (AK74) are NOT high powered. They are intermediate power cartridges designed to fire something with power more than a handgun but less than a full battle rifle like 1903 Springfields, M1 Garands, Mosin Nagants, etc. They are not too great for deer, but are pretty good for wolves and coyotes. They are also designed to wound more than kill. They were originally designed as military rounds, and the thinking of the period was to wound the enemy, so as to then take out more people from the fight with people caring for the wounded, and take up resources at hospitals. They aren't particularly more deadly than other rounds, and are significantly less deadly than rounds such as .30-06, .30-30, .308, etc., which are some of the most common hunting rounds.

We also take issue with the arbitrary definitions of "assault rifles". My .22 target rifle has a fixed stock and horizontal grip now, but since I'm a short guy who prefers pistol gripped rifles, a pistol grip and adjustable stock is ideal and I plan to put it on that rifle. Neither feature affects the functioning of the rifle, but both features are part of what supposedly makes a weapon an "assault weapon", with purely aesthetic and ergonomic changes.

There are very real concerns and issues to the claims that a new AWB would cause a decrease in violent crime, and with the definitions used in previous AWBs, and there are millions of Americans who own semiauto sporting rifles of military pattern. It isn't just a few rare people, its a common and popular class of firearm that is quite rarely used in crime just like rifles in general are rarely used in crime. Looking at the stats, more people are killed by knives than all rifles together yearly in the US. More people are beaten to death with someone's bare hands than are killed by rifles. The effectiveness of a new AWB would be extremely minimal if anything, just like the last one.