The Significance of the Assault Weapons Ban
The debate over “assault weapons” was largely unheard of prior to the late 1980s. It was in 1988 that gun ban advocate Josh Sugarman told gun control advocates they needed a new issue around which to rally public support for their efforts to restrict handgun possession. The new issue became “assault weapons.”
Actual “assault weapons” were long defined to be military-style weapons capable of fully automatic firing — guns already heavily regulated and illegal in the hands of all but a miniscule portion of the civilian population since the 1930s. Despite that, Sugarman and his followers began throwing the term around to describe all sorts of firearms that were not capable of automatic firing.
The ploy worked. Members of both houses of Congress jumped on board, led by Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and then-House member (now Sen.) Charles Schumer of New York. They used the term so often — and so disingenuously — that the public largely bought into the argument that so-called “assault weapons” were flooding our streets, and that AK-47s and Uzi submachine guns were killing innocent Americans day in and day out in communities all across America. (Of course, this wasn’t happening, but that didn’t slow the propaganda.)
The ban has always represented a symbol for gun control and nothing more. With it gone, they are losing. The push for it will continue.
