Massachusetts has an assault weapons ban law. Like many States that have bans, weapons are banned based on certain features that make it an assault weapon, i.e. pistol grip, removable magazine, flash suppressor, threaded muzzle, bayonet mount, etc. If you remove those features, by law, it is no longer an assault weapon subject to the ban.
The Attorney General of Massachusetts has decided on her own, in defiance of the law, that weapons that do not meet the criteria of the law to be considered assault weapons, but still resemble assault weapons will be banned anyway.
The first result of this announcement was Massachusetts gun stores sold 2,549 rifles the day she announced the ban. Two days before the announcement, only 51 were sold statewide. Instead of reducing the number of weapons in public hands, she increased it. Is she trying to beat out Obama as number one, gun salesman?
But my real question is why is she doing this? Are assault weapons the number one killer in Massachusetts? I checked the FBI Crime Data Reports to find out. According to FBI data for Massachusetts:
- 2014 – 0 murders were committed with rifles.
- 2013 – 2 murders were committed with rifles.
- 2012 – 0 murders were committed with rifles.
- 2011 – 0 murders were committed with rifles.
- 2010 – 0 murders were committed with rifles.
- 2009 – 2 murders were committed with rifles.
- 2008 – 2 murders were committed with rifles.
- 2007 – 1 murder was committed with a rifle.
- 2006- 2 murders were committed with rifles.
- 2005 – 1 murder was committed with a rifle.
Ten murders committed over ten years with rifles somehow necessitates banning all weapons that can be even remotely identified as an “assault weapon”. Which according to some States (like California) is any firearm with a removable magazine.
Only ten murders in ten years? Only ten murders in a weekend would be considered a GOOD weekend in Chicago. But ten murders in ten years requires banning a whole class of weapons? Does this make any sense?
Remember, these ten murders were committed with rifles. The FBI doesn’t maintain a separate category for assault weapons. While some may meet the criteria to be considered assault weapons, the could just as well be single-shot, bolt action or pump action, or lever-action rifles.
Don’t think that because Massachusetts only had ten rifle murders in ten years their assault weapon ban is working. The FBI data will also show that 13 States, many with very lax gun laws, had no murders committed with a rifle in 2014.
Additionally, a report from Obama’s own Justice Department stated, “Assault weapons are not a major contributor to gun crime.” You Have to Read This Report!
Until we stop targeting the method and start targeting the perpetrator or their cause, we won’t see any progress.
Until we stop saddling law-abiding gun owners with burdensome laws that law-breakers don’t follow anyway, we won’t see any progress.
Until we stop creating unarmed targets by disarming the public, we won’t see any progress.
So why do Liberals push the bans? Maybe the conspiracy theory nuts are right; it’s not about guns, it’s about control.
More Reading:
Lawmakers Push Back Against Lawless Gun Ban by AG Healy