Lame Assault Weapons Ban Editorial
The Christian Science Monitor:
Starting Sept. 14, our law-enforcement officers and the general public will face a more dangerous environment in our communities. It appears that President Bush and Congress are going let the federal Assault Weapons Ban expire. This makes no sense.
On September 14, I’d bet dollars to donuts there will not be an increase in violent crime and I doubt our communities will be a more dangerous environment. Two government studies by he CDC and NIJ have concluded the ban has had no effect on violent crime.
The ban was passed for very practical reasons. Prior to 1994, criminals were armed with enough firepower to outgun the police, making them nearly impossible to subdue, and allowing them to wreak terrible havoc in public places. The ban kept military-style assault weapons out of the hands of criminals. Since the passage of the ban, federal crime statistics show a dramatic 66 percent drop in the incidence of assault weapons traced to crimes. Given that, I can’t think of a rational reason not to renew this law.
Actually, the ban was passed as a symbolic gesture for gun control. The ban does not ban weapons with enough firepower to outgun the police. It bans features weapons can have. An AR15 assault weapon is functionally identical to a Ruger Mini 14. And the 66% number means nothing. The CDC and NIJ (as mentioned above) have concluded there has been no effect on violent crime attributable to the ban. These weapons were used in less than one percent of crimes any way. 66% of an insignificant number is an insignificant number. Also, if these weapons were banned, wouldn’t that number be 100% if it actually did what people say it did?
The rest of the screed is essentially tying the weapons to terror in that they will detract officers from dealing with homeland security.
