I agree with the excercising of any right comes the responsibility to do so safely. Everyone who owns a firearm has an utmost priority to keeping that weapon secure in such a manner as it cannot be used to conduct ill will without extreme measures being taken (like cracking a safe).
david- i've heard several interpretations of the 2a, and i've never heard yours before. i find that interesting. the one that drives me nuts is that people try to assess the 2a as a group and not an individual right, trying to say the national gaurd is the implied militia and private ownership is not granted. that drives me up a wall! any right can be revoked in the interest of national security. habius corpus, 1a, any and all. that being said, the day someone says we are taking away the bill of rights to serve the people and the government, there will be blood in the streets, be it foreign or domestic
bigbull- school shootings are going down, and since 2004 violent crime and murders are also declining nationally
david- your right about statistics. There is no such thing as an objective statistic. I want to believe my numbers are less biased than anti gunners, but to be honest, there is a good chance mine are fluffed as well. i've tried to perform my due diligence, and thats really all that anyone can ask :/
which countries are you referring to with stricter gun laws? to the best of my knowledge, the only legitimate example is Japan, and even that one can be argued back and forth.
again i just want to reiterate- i totally agree that everyone who chooses to keep firearms has a responsibility to do so safely.
majormadness-
you can get an 'ak' style rifle legally at many well stocked firearm distributors. I don't know specific texas law, but you need to be 18 years old, a citizen, valid form of government ID, no prior felonies, and a few other little tits and tats like of sound mind etc etc that pop up on a background check.
depending on quality of build and style you could reasonably expect to pay 350-10,000 dollars depending on how authentic you want to go. (10k is the extreme assuming your in a class 3 legal state and can find a pre 86 legal FA build, and have a loooot of paper work filled out)