If you deciding rather or not a gun should be banned or declared an assault weapon based on it's apperance then you are the one being ignorant and showing a total lack of knowledege and common sense.
Not the "appearance" bullshit.
But lets talk appearance. So, you are having a ******* fit because you might not be able to own a gun that just looks mean? Really
What does it matter what a rifle looks like if it performs the same as other rifles of the same caliber?
If you are saying that it performs the same when you pull the trigger once or even twice or even three times, you are correct. In fact, the AR is substandard to the Savage Axis II as a Varmint Rifle when you are using a single trigger pull using the same ammo. In fact, the Savage Axis II is 150 bucks cheaper and has ALL the features you need to varmint hunt at almost any range.
But if you are talking about burning through 120 rounds of ammo in a matter of a few seconds then the AR is king of the hill. If you are talking about something that is designed specifically for a firefight in battle, the AR is king of the hill. Spooner got that right from day one. There is a reason why the design has not changed in over 60 years. It was made for war the right way the first time. It was perfect using the technology that has been available for the last 50 years. Today, they are talking about keeping the same AR (Yes, Dorathy, the M-16 and M-4 are also ARs) and just increasing the caliber from 556 to 6.8spc. They aren't changing a thing except the barrel inside diameter, the combustion chamber and the mag to accept the fatter cartridge. The fatter cartridge is the same weight as the 556 that uses brass. The new Cartridge uses a composite to stay the same weight. In the end, they can easily and cheaply convert the M-16s and M-4s (and by definition the AR-15s) from 556 to 6.8spc in the field. In fact, almost any shooter that can field strip and clean an AR can do the upgrade as well. That way, it's even better suited for WAR.
It's not to you nor me to determine whether an AR is allowed or not. It's up to the community, itself. I don't stand on a soap box and scream one way or another like you and other do. In my area, the AR has fallen out of it's cult status and it's jamming up the shelves unsold in gun shops these days. Those that were wanted have already been sold. Even used ones aren't moving in the Pawn Shops these days. You seem to want to make us all believe that the Cult isn't a cult at all. EVERYONE must have an AR. It's a life and death situation. Well, cupcake, it's not.
Do I need a weapon of war versus a really decent sporting rifle? No. What can the AR do that a good Savage 223 Axis II can't do? But I can think of a few things that the Axis II can do much better than the AR for a lot less money. If you are talking about a Ranged Weapon for the Range, the AR is a piece of junk. There are so many others that blow it away that it's not even worth mentioning. The only thing that the AR can do better than the others is burn through 120 or more rounds faster than any other gun and hit almost nothing down range in the process. But if I needed a gun to mow down turkeys in cages as quickly as possible then the AR would be the weapon of choice. Or an auditorium of people, same difference.
For those communities that don't want the mowing down in the auditoriums, they will probably ban the AR and it's various clones. Or at least ban the larger capacity mags. At the same time, they will change their way of operating so that the shooter will have a harder time to get in place to start his carnage. My opinion and your opinion really doesn't have anything to do with anything. It's the Community's opinion that counts. You want to be a real hero, work with the Community to have sane gun regs instead of bans. Spread the Love, not the Hate.