Tomorrow will be the fifth anniversary of the Columbine tragedy and there was an NRA convention this weekend. Chalk one up to poor timing. As such, anti-gun hysteria is reaching levels comparable to that annoying homeland security chart. One article on debating the statistics says:

The two sides in the Senate debate over extending the decade-old ban on assault weapons are convinced of the bill’s value — and both think they have the numbers to prove it.

“We got the bill passed a decade ago, and America has been safer for it, ” argued Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who pushed through the original bill in the face of roaring opposition from the National Rifle Association and its allies.

“In fact, the percentage of assault weapons used in crimes since this bill has passed has diminished by two-thirds,” she added during a Senate debate last month. “That is the good news.”

But Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, an NRA board member, said the 1994 ban was a bust.

“The restrictions imposed by this law make no sense and only create a burden on law-abiding citizens and businesses,” he told the Senate.

Craig had his own statistics, from the Justice Department, to prove his point.

“Before the semiautomatic-firearms ban, less than 2 percent of crimes in this country were semi-auto. After the ban, from 1997 and forward, less than 2 percent were. Same figure,” he said

Either side is prone to finding stats that support its conclusion. Strangely absent from a lot of this debate is the issue of freedom. After all, who are you to tell me (a law abiding citizen with no intent to harm anyone) what my rifle should look like?

Next up is this opinion piece on the ban which is quite short on facts and long on VPC talking points. Don’t even bother to read it unless you just want a refresher on the talking points.

Unsurprisingly, Cheney didn’t mention the Assault Weapons Ban at the NRA convention. Bush has said he supports the ban but he has not actively pursued it. Some argue he’s playing politics for votes by supporting it and keeping votes by not actively pushing it. Cheney has also vowed to protect gun owner rights. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Additionally, there was some emotional blather by the parent of a child killed in the tragedy that outlined the touchy-feeliness of the issue. Even more unfortunate is that other reports suggest that the NRA members were making rather rude comments to the parent.

Spoons concludes Illinois voters are idiots:

I’d like to conduct another poll, and ask my fellow Illinoisans the following questions:

What does the assault weapons ban, ban?

Under what circumstances do you have to have a federal background check when you buy a gun at a gun show?

Under what circumstances do you not have to have a federal background check when you buy a gun elsewhere than a gun show?

Describe how the laws regarding federal background checks differ at gun shows, versus all other locations.

How many U.S. states allow citizens to carry concealed weapons?

How do the crime rates of states with concealed carry compare to the crime rates of states without concealed carry?

How many states that have adopted concealed carry over the past ten years have seen their crime rates go up?

How many have gone down?

One reported bit of good news is that the assault weapons ban is off the legislature’s table until at least spring. The good news is that some gun rights will be restored in September. The bad news is that the 11 high capacity magazines I have at the house will drop in value. A price worth paying.

Posted in uncategorized on April 19th, 2004 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |