America Needs A Federal Assault Rifle Ban
March 12, 2009 by Jennifer Walker-Journey
Filed under Parenting
I live in a state where people prize their guns. Where gun laws are lax by choice and any idiot can walk into a gun store and choose his pleasure. Here in Alabama, we enjoy the fifth-highest gun death rate (that translates to intentional and accidental shootings) in America, including the third-highest rate of gun homicide.
Earlier this week Michael K. McLendon, armed with a Bushmaster AR-15 and an SKS – both military-bred assault rifles developed for the specific purpose of killing humans quickly and efficiently, went on a shooting spree in a small, south Alabama community. Because of him, two young children will never see their mother again, and the 18-month-old daughter she was cradling will never grow up.
And that’s just two of the gunman’s 10 victims.
In response to the shootings, the Brady Campaign issued this statement:
“(Tuesday’s) shooting is only the latest addition to a string of preventable tragedies committed with these military-style weapons. America needs an effective federal assault weapons ban to stop the mass production and marketing by the gun industry of these anti-personnel weapons. Today we call on the U.S. Congress to pass a federal assault weapons ban modeled on California’s effective law that would ban these weapons once and for all.”
Don’t we owe this to our families?
(photo: AP)
It saddens me that this issue even exsist. Why on earth do common citizens have access to these weapons?
It saddens me that you think such a way. Do you honestly think that this guy would not have killed the poor people if “these weapons” did not exist. That he would not have chosen a different segway into commiting these malicious crimes? We must remember the dog wags its tail, the tail does not wag the dog.
you know…i’m all for gun rights (i call myself a gun-tottin’ democrat) but there is just something disturbing about citizens being allowed to own these assault weapons.
It’s so sad. This did not have to happen. However, reinstating a ban on semi automatic firearms is not the answer. They are not assault rifles, nor are they used only for the maiming and killing of innocent people. The previous ban did not reduce crimes with these weapons, since the vast majority were perpetrated with guns illegally purchased by criminals.
Like Anne, I myself am a strong democrat, but I fear our collective right to self defense may be eroded away in the wake of this awful tragedy.
I understand where Bryan and Anne are coming from. I thought the “Assault Weapon” Ban (AWB) of 1994 was a great idea at the time. These guns, at first glance, look very threatening and “military”. I supported the ban until I found out how an “assault rifle” was defined, and thus banned. I consider myself an open-minded, logical liberal and thus wanted to investigate both sides.
I used to think the AWB banned machine guns, however the act addressed only semi-automatic firearms, that is, firearms that fire one shot each time the trigger is pulled. Neither the AWB nor its expiration changed the legal status of fully automatic firearms, which fire more than one round with a single trigger-pull; these had long been regulated by the National Firearms Act of 1934. It turns out machine guns have been banned since 1934 – well not banned, but the procedure to obtain one is so rigorous that few would even want to try. To get a machine gun you basically have to give up your right to privacy (1. random searches of your house 2. mandatory finger-print recording 3. complicated notification requirements for moving the gun from the home 4. criminal penalties for not strictly following the notification procedures) and pay $200 tax (this was true in 1934, during the great-D – $200 in 1934 = $3,100 today).
However, the “assault weapons” ban – and I put “assault weapons” in quotations because a true assault weapon is one that is fully automatic not semiautomatic – banned guns that had specific cosmetic features, features that did not increase the ‘deadliness’ of the weapon. The act banned certain feature combinations, and was often referred to as the “ugly gun law.”
The act banned Semi-automatic rifles able to accept detachable magazines and two or more of the following features: 1)Folding or telescoping stock 2)Pistol grip 3)Bayonet mount 4)Flash suppressor, or threaded barrel designed to accommodate one 5)Grenade launcher (more precisely, a muzzle device which enables the launching or firing of rifle grenades which are not available to the public – the grenade launcher is typically used to launch signal flares in the civilian guns)
Some manufacturers complied with the law by removing certain banned features, and were criticized as attempting to circumvent the spirit of the law.
Besides banning a product, not based on any identifiable features that make it more dangerous, the politicians didn’t even know what they were banning. See this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ospNRk2uM3U) It frightens me when our elected officials zealously support banning something that they don’t even understand. Its recklessness and emotional hysteria that they use to push legislation – I expect and demand reason and logical analysis from my elected officials.
I once bought into the hysteria – thinking that it was an obvious no-brainer to ban these guns. Then I decided to be the open-minded liberal that I am and researched the area with dispassionate consideration and logic. This video helped me understand much about the subject (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjM9fcEzSJ0) and made me believe that the pushers of the AWB were relying on emotion rather than reason to create legislation.
I encourage open-mined and logical discussion/investigation of these topics so that we can work together to make a better, safer United States for all. Please do some research into both sides of the argument. And if you are one that “just hates guns”, try what I did. Ask a gun-owning friend to take you to a shooting range and enroll in a series of lessons. That way you can form your opinion of guns having actually become proficient in their safe handling and firing.
I found the challenge of increasing my accuracy exhilarating – it was an exercise of personal mental and muscular control that heightened awareness, fostered discipline, and created respect for life and safety. It changed my view completely. I no longer plainly hate guns, but rather have a respect for them, and confidence that I know how to use them safely and properly (after all they’re much less complicated than operating an automobile). If you’re an open-minded individual I encourage you to give this a shot (really bad pun but it certainly was not intended).
If my above post was too long, I recommend that you at least watch the videos.
1. This video is of one of our elected officials that wants to institute a ban by legislation but clearly does not understand the articles she wants to ban.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ospNRk2uM3U
2. This video is very good at showing how difficult it is to ban an “assault weapon” because they are so difficult to define – the ban was truly cosmetic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ospNRk2uM3U
3. As dated as this video is, it does a good job of demonstrating that “assault weapons” are not any more dangerous than common hunting and target shooting guns that are not deemed “scary”. The host is kind of a tool, but listen to his message not his bad presentation skills.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vgr3kTU68uw
Anyone who thinks that banning assault rifles from the American citizen, is reduce crime is too supid to be called an American.
Go ahead, give up your guns and be a victim you dumb ass!
LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING PEOPLE THE GUN DON’T KILL PEOPLE IT IS THE PEOPLE THAT KILL OTHER PEOPLE, OR THE PERSON BEHIND THE TRIGGER, LEAVE MY 2ND AMENDMENT ALONE, BECAUSE IF YOU BAND WEAPONS, THE CRIMINALS WILL GET THEM ANYWAY’S SO WAKE UP AMERICA AND SUPPORT YOUR 2ND AMENDMENT. I FOUGHT FOR THIS COUNTRY AND THE ONLY WAY YOUR GOING TO GET MY GUN IS OVER MY DEAD BODY.
HAVE A NICE DAY
LARRY MICHIGAN
If these idiots want you dead, they will find a way. It is so easy to blame the firearm for these deaths. With all the deaths that vehicles, swiming pools, alcohol cause,just to name a few, how come you folks are not trying to ban these items. You cannot determine when a idiot goes nuts and decides he wants to kill someone. They can run you over just as easy as they can pull the trigger. They can make a home mad bomb with instructions on the internet just as well as walking into a store to buy ammunition. All these bleeding heart anti-firearm folks are so quick to blame the gun instead of the individual that took a life. Just remember this, law enforcement are not duty bound to portect you as a privite citizen as stated by the United States Supreme Court, so when that dirt bag breaks into your house and the cops do not show up, just tell him to wait until the police to show up. There are alot of dead folks that called 911 and the cops did not show up and they had no way of defending yourself. Just compare the stats between the anti-gun states compare to the pro-gun states and tell me who has the most crime.
when you will trade your freedom for security you deserve neither (USA founding Father) Read the Constitution. Most genocides start with gun control.
Ben Franklin once said “Those that would trade their security for freedom shall have nor deserve either.”
The Bill of Rights guarantees the people’s right to keep and bear arms. If you read history this had NOTHING to do with hunting and everything to do with self defense and defense from government tyranny. The founders knew that the government they had created had the propensity to become despotic. And reality it has done just that.
Thomas Jefferson, the main advocate for the right of the people to bear arms, said “The best reason for the people to be armed is so that as a last resort they have some recourse against government tyrrany.”
If anyone said that today most of you morons would think they were a radical. And yet Thomas Jefferson was the most staunch advocate of this right. So much in fact they expressly included it in the Bill of Rights.
If you think that the American people should just disarm themselves because we do not need weapons to defend ourselves in the future from a potential tyrrant or group of tyrrants then you are an idiot. It’s that simple.
One question: What part of the imperative phrase “…SHALL NOT be infringed” do you not understand?
Great points from above.
A) These weapons are semi-automatic, not fully automatic assault rifles. A deer rifle can do the same thing.
B) A quote taken from a very cool bumper sticker: “Guns cause crime like flies cause garbage”
C) Criminals will find a way to get a gun no matter what you ban. If it’s not a gun they will find another weapon. We didn’t ban planes after terrorists used them as weapons and killed thousands of Americans, did we?
D) What we need is to ban stupid people from breeding.
All well explained points have been adressed. I only wanted to say:
Those of you who do not approve of guns, please do not buy them…
Question: Why dont you ban Alcohool? A drunk driver is far worse than a gun!
Question: How many of those weapons used in crimes were legal?
- Most crimes are committed by “FELONS” (that means people who had committed felony in the past. Therefore not qualified to own a gun “legally”)
Now, I see drunk drivers get DUI (driving under influence) penalties, SR22’s and higher insurance cost. However, I do not see any of them being jailed for life or advertised all over the media like “mass murderers”. In 1 single auto accident more than 4 people usually are INJURED, or KILLED by an irresponsible driver who was drunk.
Did you notice something there? Media call those drivers “Irresponsible”… not DANGEROUS KILLERs, or HAZARDS … WHY?
IS it just that you hate guns so much that you turn a blind eye on far worse incidents which occur far more often?
Just think America…. do not blame guns, or the remaining law abiding citizens for the acts of a few. (Is just like blaming a country for the terrorist act of a group)
The entire “assault weapons” debate is tired, and those above me have already made the points that need to be made about banning semi-automatic rifles, so I want to quickly address something said in this admittedly poorly thought out article.
The article deliberately makes an emotional appeal to a logical argument, and that is a dirty tactic designed to deter attention away from the facts that are easily gleaned from a quick look at how these two specific rifles are designed.
The AR-15 is a semi-automatic rifle that is marketed strictly to law enforcement and civilians. It is the model of the M-16, but oddly enough the M-16 is a select-fire rifle and not available for civilian purchase. The AR-15’s lower receiver is milled so that it is difficult to convert it to a fully automatic weapon, but unfortunately, this does not stop criminals from converting it. The fact remains, however, that it is no more than a semi-automatic rifle with a military style to it.
The SKS is a different story. It is a pure military rifle, this is true. HOWEVER, it is purely semi-automatic. It has no select-fire capability, and has a firing capacity of 10 rounds, normally. It does not convert to fully automatic fire. An argument can be made that it is dangerous because it can support up to a 30 round magazine, but think about it. A quick, prepared shooter can take 6 or 7 five round magazines and switch them out extremely quickly, causing almost no lag time between loading times. 25 fewer rounds per clip makes no difference to a determined criminal.
These rifles are simply that, rifles. The damage they caused can be cause just as easily by a hunting rifle, or even by a higher capacity handgun. Banning them does not keep them out of the hands killers, and even if it did, there are always alternate paths for them to take. The only reason these rifles were banned in the first place was because of appearances. There was no ballistic data taken into account. There were no specific records of murders commited considering during the first ban. They were banned simply because of aesthetics, because they looked scary. And that is it.
Screw any-one who thinks any kind of gun should be banned to everyone. I think that every gun should be legal, (besides of course explosive weapons), I think people are looking for a reason to ban guns. Cars kill more people in america than guns do, but cars aren’t banned. All we need is a mandatory saftey course similar to drivers ed. before anyone can even think about purchasing a weapon.
“These guns, at first glance, look very threatening and “military”…” I almost laughed till I cried at that statement. My gosh, you people are such COWARDS !!! What would our grandfathers’ generation think ? Terms like “assault rifle” are bantied around to make COWARDS shiver like 2nd grade girls. OMG, anything but confrontation, right? Take my wallet, my wife, my car, whatever — JUST DON’T HURT ME !!! Where did you learn this attitude? Get a grip. Exercise your 2nd Amendment liberty. Confront your fears and learn a LEGAL skill that could save your life or the lives of your family. You’ll discover the freedom that results in not having to lock yourself in the closet with your wife!!! You might even become a real American.
Almost 300 million firearms in America? over 85 million gun owners? Good luck banning them much less confiscating them. Your energy would be better spent focusing on those corrupt aspects of our culture which fuel the criminal mind.
But that would be too politically incorrect.
Instead of fighting the flow, go with it: support concealed carry. How many crimes will be thwarted, how many lives saved by a CCL holder? More than you know and much more than the media will ever report.
You won’t defeat the gun-toters. ‘Better to join with them for they want the same thing you do: reducing the effects of the criminal mind. Until that happens our divided house will only benefit that mind.
Regardless of what we do or don’t do, regardless of how many firearm bans are put in place or how many electric chairs we fire up or how far into the country you live, the world has been and will always be a dangerous place in which to live.
You’re deluding yourself to think otherwise or, worse, to think it ever will be otherwise.