Dave, while I appreciate your cogent points based on firsthand military experience, I respectfully disagree with your thesis that calling for the ban of the most deadly types of firearms is a Trojan horse to ban all firearms. That strikes me as nothing more than an effective political “ bogey man” scare tactic of the NRA and other pro-gun groups to further their advocacy and political interests.
There are already more reportedly 400 million or more firearms in public hands. How many more do people really need? Lastly, even if lawmakers wanted to ban all firearms, which would never happen, it would be impossible to collect or confiscate the hundreds of millions of guns already out there.