“U.S. Congressman David N. Cicilline (D-RI), along with 123 co-sponsors, today introduced the Assault Weapons Ban of 2015 to prohibit the sale, transfer, production, and importation of new military-style weapons and high-capacity magazines….” Press Release
And there it is. The solution to all of our firearm related problems. Liberals drag out Bill Clinton’s Assault Weapon Ban, dust it off, upgrade the language and offer it as the answer to all of our problems.
Apparently Liberals don’t study history. Many studies, including the one commissioned by the Justice Department, of Bill Clinton’s Assault Weapon Ban show it had no measurable effect on crimes involving firearms.
The proposed ban ignores the fact that “assault weapons” are rarely used in commission of a crime. In fact, the FBI Crime Data Report for 2014 shows that rifles were used in just 3% of all firearm murders; “assault weapons” are but a small sub-category rifles.
The key word in the first paragraph above is “new”. It will prohibit “sale, transfer, production, and importation of new military-style weapons and high-capacity magazines”. It will have no effect on the estimated 20-30 million rifles that fit the “assault weapon” definition which are already in circulation. Nor will it affect the one billion magazines that hold more than ten rounds already in circulation.
Gun manufactures circumvented the Clinton Assault Weapon Ban by removing the features that caused a firearm to be classified as an “assault weapon”. A rifle with a bayonet stud and flash suppressor is an “evil” assault weapon. The same firearm without the bayonet stud and flash suppressor is just a rifle. This shows the stupidity of classifying firearms by feature.
California gun laws are even more restrictive that what is being proposed in the 2015 Federal Assault Weapon Ban. How well did those laws protect the 14 citizens of San Bernardino killed in a terrorist attack?
To summarize:
- The last Assault Weapon Ban had no effect on crime.
- Gun manufactures easily circumvented the law.
- “Assault weapons” are rarely used to commit crimes.
- The ban only affects new production of “assault weapons”.
- The ban does not affect the 20-30 million already in circulation.
- Nor does it affect the one billion “high capacity” magazines out there.
- Similar laws in California have not stopped illegal use of these firearms.
So why do politicians try to pass these laws? It’s so they can stand before their constituents and say they’ve done something to solve a problem. And when the problem isn’t solved, they come back with, “We didn’t go far enough, we need even tougher restrictions”.
When are these people (to be clear, Liberals) going to understand that bad people who do bad things are not influenced by laws that prohibit the bad things they are going to do.
I’m still waiting for the news story about the criminal who didn’t rob a liquor store because it was against the law for him to possess a firearm as a convicted felon.