More Assault Weapons Ban Stuff
California authorities worry more powerful firearms will eventually make their way into the state — despite the state’s outlaw on a large number of assault weapons.
The state’s ban remains active after a federal ban on 19 types of assault weapons expired this week.
But with a thriving underworld gun trade and with the weapons legally available for residents of nearby states, officials predict it won’t be long before the powerful firearms end up on California streets.
The ban doesn’t impact weapons that are more powerful. I don’t understand why Californians are shocked to learn that criminals may break the law.
A sort of dorky solution to the almost non-existent problem of crimes committed with assault weapons:
I am a pro-gun conservative, yet agree that assault weapons are designed for one purpose and, because of that, do not belong in everyone’s hands.
In keeping our choices free, while keeping the public safe, we need another option. Let’s make the punishment fit the crime. A handgun crime gives an automatic 10 years. Let’s make it 20 years for an assault weapon.
Even pro-gun conservatives don’t understand the ban and its impact.
More on that evil gun lobby:
On Sept. 13, the Republicans chose to allow the assault weapon ban to expire. Once again the Republicans chose their powerful friends in the gun lobby over the police officers and the families they promised to protect. The Republicans made the wrong choice.
We now have an administration that makes the choice to take cops off the streets with one hand, while putting assault weapons back on the streets with the other.
Ten years ago a tough crime bill was passed to protect America. They made sure that criminals couldn’t get their hands on assault weapons. There were record drops in violent crime all over America, including gang violence and school-related murders. We saw assault weapon-related crimes drop 65 percent.
So many asinine statements in the last paragraph. Criminals could still get their hands on assault weapons and the ban has been shown to have no effect on crime according to the NIJ and the CDC.
It also looks as though a few news sources are addressing the fact the ban doesn’t do what people think it does. This article says:
A 10-year-old ban on assault weapons expired last week with barely any effect on people in central Wisconsin, gun salesman say.
The public has the wrong perception of what the ban meant, said Paul Miller, manager of Bull’s Eye Sports in Marshfield. Many people think they can walk into a gun shop now and see machine guns for sale, but that’s not the case, he said.
The federal ban halted the production of high-capacity magazines for weapons. The magazines hold 70 to 80 rounds of ammunition, instead of about 10, Miller said. Miller does expect the sale of the high-capacity magazines to increase in the next few weeks.
Steve Neve, owner of Steve’s Sport Shop in Wisconsin Rapids, said he received calls about assault weapons last week.
“We actually got a lot of calls from collectors who want to get them before the ban is reinstated,” Neve said.
Assault weapons or magazines manufactured before the ban went into effect could still be sold, Miller said. However, people have been getting higher prices for them than when they could be manufactured. Assault weapons similar to the banned ones were still being manufactured.
I’ve seen quite a few articles doing this lately. I find it odd that it’s after the ban that the press is picking up on it. Here’s another:
The ban merely redefined “assault weapons” as those semi-automatic firearms with certain military-style features resembling fully automatic machine guns. Only looks were prohibited. A grandfather clause even exempted firearms manufactured prior to the 1994 date. The ban simply regulated their appearance in future manufacturing and did nothing to stop the drug dealers and gang bangers from using their illegal assault weapons in the streets — as opponents of the ban accurately predicted.
The fact is that all semi-automatic firearms use the same technology that’s been around since the 19th century, when the first such mechanisms were designed. The forces of expanding gases from a fired cartridge cycle the action and load the next bullet to be fired. Because of this action, “semi-autos” also are called several names such as gas-operated, self-loaders, autoloaders or just plain automatics for short. The trigger has to be pulled each time a shot is fired.
It is quite sad that you have to explain to people what the ban really does because they can’t get that info in the mainstream press.
