Should there be a ban on assault rifles to prevent mass shootings? Many gun enthusiasts will say “no,” arguing that this act is only for people that are uneducated about the facts of firearms as a whole. While this statement is very true the individuals who are anti assault rifle still hold valuable points like how the government allows these terrorists to obtain military grade rifles.
Gun enthusiasts also agree with the fact that the government is allowing these terrorist to acquire these rifles, but do not agree calling the weaponry they are using military grade rifles. A military grade rifle with one trigger pull will fire various rounds while the guns the terrorists are using are only glorified pistols.
Mass shootings are still going to happen. Banning one type of firearm is not going to stop someone from using another and doing just as much damage. Gun control advocate Micheal Bloomberg states “While the last assault weapons ban was active, 14 shootings still occurred during that time period, including the 1999 shooting at columbine high school.
”(“The Hard Truth” 23) According to FBI Uniform Crime Reports in 2011, of the 8583 firearm homicides that occurred, 6220 were committed by handguns, and only 323 were committed by rifles. This means out of those 323 rifle homicides only a fraction of that number was assault rifles because assault rifle is only a subset of the rifle group. Someone who is dedicated to take others lives will do anything required to successfully fulfill their needs with or without a weapon in hand.
Large capacity magazines are also a large controversy in the assault weapons ban movement. Gun control advocates believe that having a larger capacity magazine allows shooters to do more damage when making the attacks. This is simply not true. The Virginia Tech shooting shows that large amounts of damage can still occur without a higher capacity magazine. In this shooting the attacker did not carry an oversized magazine he carried an abundance of magazines all meeting factory size. The FBI stated that he had small amounts of training and even with that
could reload a new magazine in under 2 seconds. This controversy also does not have much of an effect concluding that all firearms and accessories including magazines will be grandfathered in. Everything that has been grandfathered in will still be readily available even after the ban has occurred. The ban of assault weapons is to limit the manufacturing and the sales of these rifles but since news has been released about the ban sales have done the complete opposite they have skyrocketed.
Gun control advocates must overlook assault weapons and look further into what is causing these acts of violent terror. As said by Matt MacBradaigh an author for PolicyMic “We should look for stronger background checks especially for the mentally ill, which all sides, including the NRA, agree on. Universal checks for all purchases, both retail and private should also be on the table.” (“What if” 12) If the ban in 1994 did not work what makes this one any different. A study done by two researchers by the name of Roth and Koper from the original ban states they were unable to detect any change in the reduction of gun related crimes. The first weapons ban also targeted rifles with mostly cosmetic features, as does this one. In a 2004 article Chrisopher Koper writes “The gun ban provision targets a relatively small number of weapons based on outward features or accessories that have little to do with the weapons’ operation.”(“What would you do❞ 13)
You must fully understand all the facts about assault rifles before talking down on them. There are gun control researchers today that admit banning assault rifles will do nothing in regards to the violent crimes happening in the United States. In the end gun control advocates have some serious questions to account for. Why ban a weapon just because it looks scary? Why ban guns that are used in just a mere 2% of crimes? And Most importantly why will the ban on rifles reduce mass shootings THIS time around? If the ban in 1994 did not work to prevent could reload a new magazine in under 2 seconds. This controversy also does not have much of an effect concluding that all firearms and accessories including magazines will be grandfathered in. Everything that has been grandfathered in will still be readily available even after the ban has occurred. The ban of assault weapons is to limit the manufacturing and the sales of these rifles but since news has been released about the ban sales have done the complete opposite they have skyrocketed.
Gun control advocates must overlook assault weapons and look further into what is causing these acts of violent terror. As said by Matt MacBradaigh an author for PolicyMic “We should look for stronger background checks especially for the mentally ill, which all sides, including the NRA, agree on. Universal checks for all purchases, both retail and private should also be on the table.” (“What if” 12) If the ban in 1994 did not work what makes this one any different. A study done by two researchers by the name of Roth and Koper from the original ban states they were unable to detect any change in the reduction of gun related crimes. The first weapons ban also targeted rifles with mostly cosmetic features, as does this one. In a 2004 article Chrisopher Koper writes “The gun ban provision targets a relatively small number of weapons based on outward features or accessories that have little to do with the weapons’ operation.”(“What would you do❞ 13)
You must fully understand all the facts about assault rifles before talking down on them. There are gun control researchers today that admit banning assault rifles will do nothing in regards to the violent crimes happening in the United States. In the end gun control advocates have some serious questions to account for. Why ban a weapon just because it looks scary? Why ban guns that are used in just a mere 2% of crimes? And Most importantly why will the ban on rifles reduce mass shootings THIS time around? If the ban in 1994 did not work to prevent
Should There Be a Ban on Assault Rifles to Prevent Mass Shootings. (2023, Jan 12). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/should-there-be-a-ban-on-assault-rifles-to-prevent-mass-shootings/