The Assault Weapons Ban

Thanks, Con-Let's begin by agreeing that the Second Amendment upholds the right of citizens to bear arms. Let's also agree that there is much confusion about the term "assault weapon," and for good reason. Assault weapon is essentially a political term used to highlight anti-personnel features and appliances in association with semi-automatic firearms. The term is often misused or conflated with assault rifle or semi-automatic firearms. Let's use the definition from the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban-‘‘The term semiautomatic assault weapon means—‘‘(A) any of the firearms, or copies or duplicates of thefirearms in any caliber, known as—‘‘(i) Norinco, Mitchell, and Poly Technologies AvtomatKalashnikovs (all models);‘‘(ii) Action Arms Israeli Military Industries UZI andGalil;‘‘(iii) Beretta Ar70 (SC–70);‘‘(iv) Colt AR–15;‘‘(v) Fabrique National FN/FAL, FN/LAR, and FNC;‘‘(vi) SWD M–10, M–11, M–11/9, and M–12;‘‘(vii) Steyr AUG;‘‘(viii) INTRATEC TEC–9, TEC–DC9 and TEC–22; and‘‘(ix) revolving cylinder shotguns, such as (or similarto) the Street Sweeper and Striker 12;‘‘(B) a semiautomatic rifle that has an ability to accepta detachable magazine and has at least 2 of—‘‘(i) a folding or telescoping stock;‘‘(ii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneaththe action of the weapon;‘‘(iii) a bayonet mount;‘‘(iv) a flash suppressor or threaded barrel designedto accommodate a flash suppressor; and‘‘(v) a grenade launcher;‘‘(C) a semiautomatic pistol that has an ability to accepta detachable magazine and has at least 2 of—‘‘(i) an ammunition magazine that attaches to the pistoloutside of the pistol grip;‘‘(ii) a threaded barrel capable of accepting a barrelextender, flash suppressor, forward handgrip, or silencer;‘‘(iii) a shroud that is attached to, or partially or com-pletely encircles, the barrel and that permits the shooterto hold the firearm with the nontrigger hand without beingburned;‘‘(iv) a manufactured weight of 50 ounces or more whenthe pistol is unloaded; and‘‘(v) a semiautomatic version of an automatic firearm;and‘‘(D) a semiautomatic shotgun that has at least 2 of—‘‘(i) a folding or telescoping stock;‘‘(ii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneaththe action of the weapon;‘‘(iii) a fixed magazine capacity in excess of 5 rounds;and‘‘(iv) an ability to accept a detachable magazine.’’. The law also banned magazines that could hold more than ten rounds of ammunition.[1]In essence, an assault weapon is a semi-automatic weapon with 2 or more anti-personal appliances. Importantly, although politicians want to make a big distinction between semi-automatic weapons and assault weapons, the American people do not.Whether polls ask about banning semi-automatic weapons or assault weapons, the same majority, roughly 55% support banning either.[2][3] http://www.washingtonpost.com...; />Tellingly, support for gun ownership as a second amendment right has increased over the past 30 years, even as support for the ownership of semi-automatic weapons has declined. Although gun sales are up, gun ownership is down sharply over the past 30 years- a decreasing percentage of the population is owning an increasing number of guns. http://www.washingtonpost.com...; width="632" height="459" />These are pessimistic trends for those people who wish to preserve their right to own a semi-automatic weapon. With any new sensationalized mass shooting, pressure is going mount to take action. If gun owners continue to resist the relatively cosmetic bans on assault weapons, they risk the possibility of a popular ban on all semi-automatic weapons. If gun owners take their lumps now and accept the the relatively cosmetic bans (which we agree are likely to have little impact on murder statistics), gun owners will have the advantage of arguing, "the ban on assault weapons had little effect, why should we expect results from a ban on all semi-automatic weapons?"*****I'll take exception to the 1% assault weapons statistic for a few reasons:1). Con and Pro agree that assault weapons are a semi-automatic weapons with cosmetic features. So why cite the cosmetic assault weapons number rather than the much larger semi-automatic number? Most gun violence is committed with pistols and most pistols are semi-automatic, The majority of all gun violence is committed with semi-automatic weapons, which Con agrees is the less cosmetic number2) The number cited is for rifles only. We are considering the assault weapons ban which includes bans on pistols.3) The number cited indicates possession of firearms by prison inmates at time of offense, but you call this 1% of all gun crime. This statistic does not consider gun crimes where the perp wasn't caught, or wasn't imprisoned, or (importantly) died.[1] http://www.gpo.gov...[2]http://www.politifact.com...[3]http://www.washingtonpost.com...