The argument at the time was that semi-auto centerfire wasn't the bogey man that it was portrayed as, and true to form the majority of the gun crime isn't due to the now limited prohibition firearms it's the rank and file shotguns and easy to modify to make them more concealable firearms.
The bog standard argument that semi autos were designed simply to kill people was something to create fear and fear creates support, the facts of it are - if people didn't decide they needed to kill other people before the other people killed them we wouldn't have half of the tech we do now. I have also pointed out, that people are mammals too - which stopped more than one or two rabid anti gunners in full cry.
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