Orator-
It's not often I can say this, but almost your entire post seems to be built on a misreading of mine. Here we go.
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That's not true, plenty of people go to shooting ranges for recreational shooting all the time, and those who don't own assault rifles themselves can rent them, just for the range. The fact that this remains profitable means assault rifles hold a clear recreational value.
Yes. I did indeed say that assault rifles HAVE no recreational purpose. Did I say they didnt SERVE a purpose? I can beat a nail with a stapler, and that stapler is serving a purpose, but the purpose it has is to put staples in paper. It's hard to believe you accidentally misread that considering that that statement was followed up by me saying:
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They may provide recreation, but their purpose is to fire off an inordinate amount of bullets.
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And when fireworks go wrong--not your namby-pamby fountains or wheels, mind you, nice big FWEEEEEEEERRM BOOM fireworks--more than the drunk guy setting them off can get hurt.
Thats nice. When cars go wrong, INCLUDING namby-pamby cars, people can get hurt. Also, dogs, glass, plastic bags, hair dryers, and, ya know, everything. However this is what we refer to as an 'accident" and unless you can prove that fireworks accidents kill innocent bystanders at a higher rate than they kill people who were screwing around, you're not going to compare them to assault rifles.
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I don't want to get out the horrible statistics on drunk drivers, but I could. All you need to know is that the driver usually survives the crash, and the victims don't.
Wow, nice paraphrasing there.
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usually only injure the person using them (much like alcohol)
So from "fireworks USUALLY only injure the person using them much LIKE alcohol" you derived "Alcohol only injures the person using it." Good job.
I am still going to state that alcohol more often harms the person imbibing it than other people. Drunk driving might be a spectacular occasion where alcohol harms innocents, but I suspect that gets more coverage than a drunk guy stumbling down his stairs and hurting himself, or developing a liver condition.
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just found a perfect reason why you would need an assault rifle: you live in a mob controlled neighbourhood and the mob have come to collect their "protection fee" but you don't want to pay or you cant pay.
Even by your mob movie logic your scenario fails. If you're a shop keeper and you threaten a fugging mobster with an assault rifle, you're not threatening an individual criminal, you're threatening the entire La Cosa Nostra organization. And, to paraphrase one Jack Nicholson "What they're going to do is they're going to come down here with some guys, and they're going to kill you. Which sure as you're born, they will do."