Should assault rifles be prohibited or banned for civilians?(Canada)

Dan Styles, who served in Afghanistan with the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, spends a lot of his personal time at the shooting range near his home...his personal firearms collection contains modern, sleek, semi-automatic rifles, which he says are light, accurate, durable and pleasing to shoot.
One of his preferred weapons, for instance, is a Chinese-made M14 semi-automatic rifle. For years, the M14 served as the standard-issue battle rifle for American soldiers, and is now used by sharpshooters in Iraq and Afghanistan...Some Canadians are alarmed that registered firearms users such as Mr. Styles have legal access to such weapons, which are considered “civilianized” (SIC) models of modern military-assault rifles. Although these high-powered rifles are seldom used in crimes in Canada, many gun-control advocates want them banned in the name of public safety...“The pervasive rumour that non-restricted firearms will be broadly reclassified is categorically false,” says Julie Carmichael. “There are no plans to alter the process in which firearms are classified.”That hasn’t stopped gun-control advocates demanding just such a reclassification...
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Full biased article is from the National Post
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I have always had issue with why I should not own a semi-auto version of what I carried when I was an active duty "Snuffy".  When I was a kid, I was on Rifle Team shooting smallbore .22, so I could never see the mindset that as an older and experienced veteran I somehow "suddenly" became untrustworthy to own a simple rifle. That is how you politicize people, gun-grabbers take note. A bit of contradictory information here, still better than the usual fully ignorant comments however (I have a hard time calling an M-14 pattern rifle "ultra-modern", "intimidating", "leading edge" and "light" since the design goes back to the 1940's and that sucker gets a might "heavy" if you have to hump it for any serious distance! *LOL*). This reporter tries to ride the fence as best as possible yet shows a "love/hate" relationship, even when admitting such firearms are rarely used in crime (by "common criminals" at least: kind of difficult to mug someone or rob a bank with a 20 pound 4.5 foot long rifle, Wot?). The usual tactic of claiming "Police" & "Gun Control" advocates as a united front to ban firearms when we all know those "police" advocates are high ranking political police chief types, not the Street Cops, most of who know better. This particular article has merit, however, for the comments posted at the end, most of which are 100% spot on and crush their opponents with intellectual and factual skill. I must admit these Pro-Liberty Canadians remind me of thier California counterparts, who also have to fight with one hand tied behind their backs against the radical Prohibitionists, so don't neglect to check out the affray after reading the full article. Here is one very good one by "Eupraxsopher": Hundreds of millions of people in North America have been using hundreds of millions of rifles safely for three hundred years. The AR-15 was a civilian semi-auto rifle before the US Army saw the design and changed it into full-auto M-16 nearly 50 years ago.
Almost every rifle in the world was a military design at one point.  Semi--auto hunting rifles and shotguns have been lovingly used afield for over 100 years. They shoot the same 50 and 100 year old cartridges. So now they have a pistol grip and a cheap plastic stock. So what?
If people claim that plastic and ergonomics make such a huge difference, then how did that nutter in the UK murder so many people with an Elmer Fudd double barreled shotgun and a .22 rabbit rifle? Obviously, it's about finding and treating mental illness. The mushrooms that commit mass murder grow in the shade but most of them have violent histories and obvious flaws. Cho of Virginia Tech was under court order to get involuntary treatment for his violent mental disorder. It was never served. Want to stop violent people?  Start a violent offender registry of psychopaths and thugs, then track and inspect them at random. Watch the murder rate plummet...
Couldn't have said it better myself...Right on point, Eh?...(S9)