I love them because they help arm the American People against the threat of tyranny from our own government.

Certainly a fair point, with which I agree, but it proves too much. How do you feel about the ban on machine guns or other tools of asymmetric, guerrilla warfare? The AR issue is about line-drawing. An argument that does not address where the line should be drawn misses the point.

The problem with ARs is that they are becoming the weapon of choice for mass shooters. They pack a lethal punch, and they can be bump-stocked. That sort of makes them like burglary tools, good to have around if you lock yourself out of the house, but still something that people should not be allowed to own.

Yes, anti-gun types use lies, damn lies and statistics to make their points. I especially recoil from the one that compares accidental deaths to self-defense deaths. Ideally, a well-advertised deterrent (“This home protected by Smith and Wesson”) is never fired in self-defense. As a litigation attorney I know likes to say, bombs are for showing, not throwing. But you cannot dismiss a proposal by refuting its worst arguments. You have to find the best arguments and either refute them or make the case that those arguments, however well taken, merely name the price of something we need to have nevertheless.