How could you possibly know that? Well in that case I want to buy a warship with Cannons and all. You know since that was standard and legal then.

@Tejas seriously? Perhaps a puckle gun could fire up to 10 rounds a minute. But it took 3 men to operate it, and a horse to limber it into position. It was also terribly unreliable. Not at all comparable to a modern assault rifle.

Ships of the line, depending on the size, would require at least 20 men to be functional. Also not comparable to a modern assault rifle.

The idea of a high capacity semiautomatic weapons were beyond the comprehension of the framers of the constitution. It was until the early 1940s that a reasonably affordable and reliable semi/full automatic assault rifle was invented that could be operated by a individual. Even the M60 I used in the 80s was a 2 man weapon. 2 very exhausted men BTW. Yes there was Tommy gun from the 1920s but it fired 45 ammo, if I remember correctly, but still well beyond the comprehension of the framers.

There is no argument you can possibly make that could justify the private need, or the framers intent, for private individuals to have this kind of mobile fire power, unless you find the burning need to kill 100 people and find reloading an horrific inconvenience. But go ahead and try.

@Garban semi automatic weapons have been around since the late 1800s. What about my point on owning warships from that era?

@Tejas a ship of the line were war ships of that era.

There were perpetrators in the upper 1%, like John E. du Pont, an heir to the du Pont chemical fortune whose benevolent support of Olympic athletes deteriorated into delusion and ended in the shooting death of a champion wrestler, died in December of 2010 in a western Pennsylvania prison. He was 72.
Robert Richards, an heir to the DuPont company, was convicted of raping his daughter in 2009. He was let off with no jail time.
That's just the DuPonts.

@Willow_Wisp I still wonder how many people in the upper 1 - 10 % as a percentage, were victims of shootings.

@ASTRALMAX Not enough to change their policy positions that's for certain.

@Willow_Wisp When the figures start mounting up then you will see change in the law.

@ASTRALMAX Let's hope it doesn't take all that but when the MAGA types figure out how hard they were played by Trump and company... well we all saw that oil movie staring Daniel Day-Lewis.

Political elections in just about every democratic country are popularity contests. If candidates were elected to office on the basis of the issues and the implementation of a mandate with accountability, the number of candidates would quickly shrink.