Hunting rifles for self-defense are dangerous to innocent bystanders, dangerous to the aggressor, and dangerous to the user!

If you shoot a felon with a hunting rifle, the round will continue *through* the perpetrator and continue on with enough force to hurt other innocent people, even through a wall. We don’t want the felon’s choices to hurt anyone but himself.

Hunting rifles are dangerous to the aggressor. If you use appropriate ammunition in an appropriate firearm, the round will enter the perpetrator, but not exit, creating only one wound. If you use a hunting rifle, it will create both an entry AND an exit wound. Most gunshot deaths result from blood loss; we don’t want him to die, we just want to stop him from killing us.

Finally, hunting rifles are dangerous to the user for self-defense. We’re responsible for every bullet we fire, so we want to make sure we don’t cause bystander injuries or needless deaths of perpetrators. Using a hunting rifle for self-defense creates the possibility of needless injuries, deaths, and civil lawsuits.

Those are the 3 reasons why we don’t use powerful hunting rifles for self-defense. If you have any more questions, Sam, let us know!
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Oh, and “CARRY PERMIT HOLDERS.”

Concealed carry permit holders do that, you know……

Sam,
Semi-autos can usually be reloaded faster (not always tho).
Semi-autos are often thinner and easier to carry in a holster.
Some semi-autos are actually more reliable than some revolvers.
A semi-auto rifle will usually cycle faster than can be done with a bolt action.

Outside of hunting and self defense, in sport shooting the gun design can give you a slight advantage (this works for as well as against semi-autos).