Dedicated, fully-automatic, assault rifles may be difficult to acquire through traditional channels in most states, but weapons such as the AK-47 and SKS, even in stock semi-automatic form, can be made to fire just as fast as their fully automatic counterparts. One time when I went shooting, in California nonetheless with some of the country's tightest gun laws, I saw someone "bump fire" a simple .22 cal Ruger rifle and unload a 30 round banana clip in less than two seconds.

Now that's what I call "full-auto fun!"

Unfortunately, lax gun sales throughout the United States are responsible for a sizable amount of the global trade in small arms and light weapons; recent reports have stated that the Drug Cartels responsible for destabilizing Mexican border towns acquire as much as 95% of their assault rifles from the United States. This is achieved by ordinary citizens, without criminal records, buying weapons in bulk at gun shows and shops, and then either driving them across the border themselves, or giving them to someone to do this. While border controls between the United States and Mexico are poor, where interstate travel is concerned they are practically non-existent.

Despite staggering numbers of annual killings with assault rifles, it isn't until a more dramatic shooting occurs that people begin to question the flawed argument: "guns need to be available for 'good citizens,' so that they can protect themselves from the 'bad people' who would acquire the weapons illegally anyways." Almost to a bullet, the weapons in the possession of criminals in the United States were originally acquired by legal methods. Sadly, the power of lobbying organizations, such as the NRA, prevent attempts by politicians to place even the most rudimentary restrictions on gun ownership in the United States, and romantic notions of self-reliant frontiersmen, and fundamentalist interpretations of the 2nd Amendment unfairly color the debate.