Handguns are generally semi-automatic, concealable, and not useful for hunting. They are also the weapons most used to kill people.
Rifles and shotguns aren’t concealable and can be used for hunting.
In this store they only carry hunting rifles (and I don’t think any are semi-automatic), though unfortunately the 21 law doesn’t prohibit the purchase of semiautomatic rifles like AR-15s to 18-20 year olds in other stores.
Power has little to do with lethality, in so far as your average citizen is concerned. A .22, the “weakest” caliber you’re going to commonly find in a firearm, will kill you just fine. A 9mm, one of the most common pistol cartridges, has no problem killing. A faster moving, more powerful, rifle cartridge ends up having the same effective ability against a regular person.
This ends up meaning that factors other than the firearms strength is what we control for. Pistols are insanely easy to conceal, meaning you’re more likely to get into a favorable position to use one, compared to a much larger rifle that’s going to draw a ton of attention walking around with. Same principle as sawn-off shotguns being illegal in some places, too easy to conceal.
Not American so I’m unfamiliar with freedom, but why does the more powerful gun have a more lax age restriction?
Handguns are generally semi-automatic, concealable, and not useful for hunting. They are also the weapons most used to kill people.
Rifles and shotguns aren’t concealable and can be used for hunting.
In this store they only carry hunting rifles (and I don’t think any are semi-automatic), though unfortunately the 21 law doesn’t prohibit the purchase of semiautomatic rifles like AR-15s to 18-20 year olds in other stores.
Thanks for clearing that up!
Power has little to do with lethality, in so far as your average citizen is concerned. A .22, the “weakest” caliber you’re going to commonly find in a firearm, will kill you just fine. A 9mm, one of the most common pistol cartridges, has no problem killing. A faster moving, more powerful, rifle cartridge ends up having the same effective ability against a regular person.
This ends up meaning that factors other than the firearms strength is what we control for. Pistols are insanely easy to conceal, meaning you’re more likely to get into a favorable position to use one, compared to a much larger rifle that’s going to draw a ton of attention walking around with. Same principle as sawn-off shotguns being illegal in some places, too easy to conceal.