Assault Weapons: A Serious Problem in America? - Granite Grok

Assault Weapons: A Serious Problem in America?

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“The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools.” – Thucydides

 HR 6257 Assault Weapons Ban Reauthorization Act of 2008 was introduced by Republican Mark Kirk of Illinois, and co-sponsored by Republicans, (defeated)Mike Castle of Delaware, Mike Ferguson of New Jersey, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and Chris Shays of Connecticut. The Bill was introduced on June 12, 2008 and never became law, having been stalled in subcommittee.  In January, Republican Senator Dick Lugar said he supports a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines.

These Republicans suck. Mark Kirk is a liberal, not to mention a demagogue and panderer. But coming from Illinois not much else is to be expected. Mike Castle of Delaware, also a liberal, was defeated by Christine O’Donnell in the primary. The bearded Marxist Chris Coons went on to beat O’Donnell which is not surprising, given Delaware “Kool-Aid-drinking” constituency. Mike Ferguson was a typical New Jersey anti-gunner who chose not to run for office again in 2008. Thank goodness. The dependable, but squishy Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, notorious for her associations with the “arts and croissants” crowd. and finally, RINO Chris Shays of Connecticut who got crushed in 2008. Two out of five left standing…

 According to Kool-Aid drinking Senator Diane Feinstein’s brochure, an Assault Weapon is, All semi-automatic assault pistols and rifles with detachable magazines and 2 or more “assault” characteristics, (my emphasis added) as well as semiautomatic shotguns with 2 or more such ‘characteristics‘…” “Characteristics…”

char·ac·ter·is·tic  /?kær?kt??r?st?k/ [kar-ik-tuh-ris-tik]

–adjective

 1. Also, char·ac·ter·is·ti·cal. pertaining to, constituting, or indicating the character  or peculiar quality of a person or thing; typical; distinctive: Red and gold are the characteristic colors of autumn.

–noun

2. a distinguishing feature or quality: Generosity is his chief characteristic.

Who makes this stuff up? Rarely is there ever a name attached to such a falsehood. But, if I have to lay odds it came out of Bloomberg’s camp or from the Brady Bunch. In that vein, the contemporary liars, shrills and demagogues are more dependable than a quarterly IRS Tax bill.

 What is an Assault Weapon? The rational and logical answer is nothing. There is no such thing. The term is a concoction of charlatans, the brainless colloquy bantered about by liberals and gun-banners as a pejorative mischaracterization on those firearms of a compact, utilitarian nature, originally derived from Military use. These so-called “assault weapons” available for sale in gun shops around the nation, generally do not differ in functionality from traditional hunting rifles. What sets these rifles apart are their mere appearance…or their characteristics.

 The definition for Assault Rifle, however, is a, “Light and compact selective-fire automatic rifle firing a cartridge of such power that it can deliver effective fire to a range of about 500 metres, but at the same time will permit the weapon to be fired in the automatic mode from the shoulder,” according to the Greenhill Military Small Arms Databook.  

 So what of this assault weapons ban? the ban sunsetted in 2004 and attempts to renew it have been blocked. Before there is any bringing back of the assault weapons ban, let us look at the real hard and fast facts. Guy Smith of Gun Facts has done the research. here is what was discovered:

  • First Inconvenient AWB Fact: According to the 1994 FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, and prior to the Federal “assault weapons ban,” a crime victim was eleven (11) times more likely to be beaten to death than to be killed by an “assault weapon.”And, according to the 2004 FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, in the first year the ban was lifted, murders declined 3.6%, and violent crime 1.7%.

  • Second Inconvenient AWB Fact: Nationally, “assault weapons” were used in 1.4% of crimes involving firearms and 0.25% of all violent crime before the enactment of any national or state “assault weapons” ban. and according to Gary Kleck in his Targeting Guns study, In major urban areas like San Antonio, Mobile, Nashville and some entire states such as Maryland and New Jersey, the rate is less than 0.1%.
  • Third Inconvenient AWB Fact: The 1993 Uniform Crime Statistics asserted that even weapons misclassified as “assault weapons” (common in the former Federal and California “assault weapons” confiscations) are used in less than 1% of all homicides.
  • Fourth Inconvenient AWB Fact: Police reports show that “assault weapons” are a non-problem:

For California:

  • Los Angeles: In 1998, of 538 documented gun incidents, only one (0.2%) involved an “assault weapon.”
  • San Francisco: In 1998, only 2.2% of confiscated weapons were “assault weapons.”
  • San Diego: Between 1988 and 1990, only 0.3% of confiscated weapons were “assault weapons.”
  • Steve Helsley, Assistant Director of the California Department of Justice, Investigation and Enforcement Branch states in 1988, “I surveyed the firearms used in violent crimes…assault-type firearms were the least of our worries.”

All of the facts surrounding the Assault Weapons Ban belies the need for such a ban. If your elected officials support the assault weapons ban, bear in mind that such support has nothing to do with use of these so-called “assault weapons”…(the preferred faux reference preferred universally by Kool-Aid drinkers everywhere) and more about asserting control over a visual style of a particular firearm. Such bans are useless and the only purpose such a ban serves is to buttress the  chipping away and incremental removal of lawful ownership of firearms by citizens.

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