Steve says this is why gun control is a bad idea.

[Chainfire]

1. An AR 15 makes a sorry home defense weapon; anybody who was really concerned about effective home firearm protection

would choose a plain jane old pump shotgun like grandad used. In my personal experience, most people with ARs have a fantasy of going to war, and being heroes, thus they want assault weapons. I mean, who wants to go to war with granddads shotgun? It would be very uncool in gun circles... An AR may be a good choice for home defense if you are expecting to be facing a dozen armed villians coming after your stuff. There just really hasn't been a lot of that, unless I have just missed it.

The most useful purpose for assault type weapons (or modern sporting rifle if you own one) is in...wait for it...an assault! Shooting the most innocent victims in the least amount of time. That it why it is the weapon of choice of mass shooters everywhere.