It's good that mass murderers are dumb enough that they don't understand that even a pump action shotgun would be a lot more effective in enclosed space then a semi center fire.
This is accurate. These murderers are, for the most part, idiots. And they tend to be TERRIBLE marksmen. So we, as potential random victims, have at least that going for us. In one of the many analysis chats I've heard on the Uvalde shooting, an expert commentator spelled it out simply; a couple of pistols and a bag full of magazines would be far superior in terms of concealment on entering a school or other public building, moving between rooms unnoticed, while being every bit as lethal at close range as a 5.56/.223" rifle. He went on to say that after the first magazine dump in the school, the shooter would be effectively deaf, making him more vulnerable, had police been interested in trying to sneak up on him to end the attack.
I'd add that a pair of pistols with suppressors would make for the ultimate mass shooter choice - a former cop in New Jersey (I think?) a couple of years ago demonstrated this, moving between many rooms in a civic building and killing many, in part, perhaps, thanks to using a suppressor on one of his several pistols (though it was illegal to have such a device in that state). Criminals will do criminal things. Laws against those criminal things are only applied after the fact, too late for the victims. Why a pair? Jams and failures happen. But again, not the sort of thing would-be mass murderers tend to understand, most of them being relatively or completely inexperienced in firearms use. We who follow the law tend to learn about such things as we practice our hobby, while never applying such knowledge in ways harmful to others.
Of course there are some mass murderers who aren't complete morons, and who do practice and understand the destructive potential of something like a pump shotgun - that school shooter in Russia a few years ago for example, and an autistic teen in Washington State who shot through one door... then realised what he was doing and surrendered. There have been, and likely always will be these outliers, who choose to take their skills and knowledge and apply them to destructive ends.
The Unabomber was one such. An immensely clever fellow, deeply committed to a philosophical conclusion that technology would be our undoing. He wrongly decided that he could make a difference by blowing up a few scientists. Too focused on his target, and tunnel vision can blind one to the greater reality. Once we got started down the technological road there was never any turning back. But such outliers are a miniscule minority, the odds being far better for becoming a millionaire by buying just one lottery ticket than of becoming a victim of such attacks.
And I still don't get the concept of straight pull AR look a likes. AR ergonomics is designed for semi/full auto fire, not constant bolt jerking. A traditional bolt action rifle is a lot more ergonomic for manual operation than this monstrosity.
Oh that part's easy. It's about pacification via incrementalism. By allowing for the
appearance of an AR, which is a very popular platform among sports shooters and many firearms enthusiasts besides, the authorities are able to calm most fears of confiscation/banning. Replace a popular thing with something of very similar appearance and reduced functionality, on the road to complete confiscation. 'Small moves' as Sagan put it in 'Contact.' Another way to express it is the old thing about the frog in the pot of water, over a low flame, the animal not noticing the gradually increasing temperature until it is too late. We're the frog. The WEF and their puppets are in control of the intensity of that flame, and have a century-worth of psychological research at hand to modify the rate of heating as needed to keep us from over-reacting too early and jumping out of the pot.
