Bringing Back the Assault Weapons Ban

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

I knew this was too good to be true. Lawmakers (in New York of all places) are already trying to bring back the assault weapons ban one week after it expired. Maybe if they spent less energy trying to keep an assault weapons ban on the books they could figure out how to reduce their high crime rates - which may or may not (hmm) be thanks to their tough gun laws.

From the New York Daily News:

"Not continuing the ban on assault weapons is one of the great disgraces this year," Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, promising that members of Congress will take up the cause during its next session.

A story in yesterday's Daily News showed how the once-banned weapons can pierce through concrete and even some bulletproof vests.

And some law enforcement officials fear the powerful guns, once used to guard drug dens during the height of the crack epidemic, could make their way back into New York City.

I never get tired of refuting these baseless claims. Notice how the sentence is structured: "…how the once-banned weapons can pierce through concrete and even some bulletproof vests." And notice how the story doesn't document one case where a cop was killed as a result of a his armor being pierced. With such a bad label, these news reports would make you think that the word "assault" makes weapons more dangerous when in fact "assault" rifles are less dangerous than standard hunting rifles. (Gary Kleck, "Armed: New Perspectives on Gun Control") Yeah, it's true. Bet you never heard that fact mentioned in a liberal newspaper or on a cable news program.

"The Daily News talked about people having AR-15s," Schumer said. "Nobody needs an AR-15. These were designed as weapons of war. ... They should be abolished."

Again on the subject of need. Who's to tell us what we do and do not need? Do we need cars? What about fast food? I'm sure alcohol is not a necessity. Tobacco is pretty dangerous. These vices are legal and yet they kill far more people than guns like the AR-15, a weapon virtually never used by criminals to commit crime. So you wanna' reduce crime? Let's start by enacting legislation that actually has an impact on crime rates. Gun control bills are furthest from the solution.