Some Americans believe that a so-called “assault weapons” ban would help curb mass shootings in the United States. They say things such as “The Second Amendment didn’t guarantee the right to own cannons” and “assault weapons only belong in the hands of the military.” While these arguments make sense to the uneducated, they fail to hold water when put under scrutiny.
False Claim #1: An Assault Weapons Ban Would Reduce Casualties.
A complete assault weapons ban would rid the country of what lawmakers usually define as “a semiautomatic gun that can accept a detachable ammunition magazine that has one or more additional features considered useful in military and criminal applications but unnecessary for sports or self-defense, such as a folding, telescoping or thumbhole rifle stock.”
However, according to the Violence Project, (www.theviolenceproject.org), which claims to be the “most comprehensive mass shooter database” in the United States, an astonishing 55% of weapons used in mass shootings from 1966 to 2022 were pistols, while only 21% of those weapons were these so-called “assault weapons.” In fact, during the third deadliest mass shooting in US history, Cho Seung-Hui managed to kill 32 people and injure 26 with only a Glock 19 and a Walther P22 chambered in .22lr, two firearms not classified as “assault weapons.”
False Claim #2: Data Shows A Drop In Gun Violence During The Federal Assault Weapons Ban Of 1994 To 2004.
The 1994 bill was never effective at reducing gun crime. It defined an assault weapon by the same general definition still used today – a semi-automatic rifle that accepts detachable magazines with two or more cosmetic features such as a folding stock or pistol grip.
As it is, the concept of an “assault weapon” shouldn’t exist at all. The term is an invention of the anti-gun bloc used to scare ignorant voters into going against a mysterious “mass murdering machine” that is, in reality, just as dangerous as any semi-automatic firearm.
According to a survey of state prison inmates from 1991, only 1-8% of weapons used in gun crimes before the ban fell under the definition of an “assault weapon,” so the legislation failed to make a substantial impact, and violent trends continued to rise as normal.
False Claim #3: The Second Amendment Was Written For Muskets; It Didn’t Allow You To Buy A Cannon.
Oh yes, it did. Private merchants who did any sort of overseas trading were both allowed and encouraged to buy cannons for their vessels. Cannons were also present aboard privateer vessels – the ships owned by private citizens who were given letters of marque by Congress, which permitted them to raid British shipping lanes.
The argument here implies the Second Amendment never intended the colonists to have the same weapons as the federal government, yet the reality was the complete opposite. In fact, in 1801, Republican John Beckley of Pennsylvania lodged a complaint that “several hundred stand of arms and 18 pieces of cannon, heretofore in the hands of the Militia…” had been confiscated by federal troops. (Sharp, James Roger. American Politics in the Early Republic: The New Nation in Crisis. United Kingdom, Yale University Press, 1993. #ad) Republicans viewed this as a “usurpation” by Congress against the rights of the people, which justified a civil war.
Thankfully, the reports of weapons being confiscated turned out to be rumors, and a civil war was averted, but this account proves beyond a doubt that the intention of the Second Amendment had always been to safeguard the American people against government overreach, especially if it meant equipping the American people with the same weapons as the government.
False Claim #4: Assault Weapons Hold More Ammo.
A semi-automatic AR-15 which is not, in fact, an assault weapon, can accept a 30-round magazine, but so can a Glock pistol. Likewise, the Kel-Tec P50 comes standard with 50 rounds of 5.7x28mm straight out of the factory. The difference between the AR-15 and the two pistols is neither of the latter two firearms would be affected by a proposed assault weapons ban, and yet they could be just as effective as a semi-automatic rifle when throwing lead downrange.
False Claim #5: The AR-15 Is Deadlier Than Any Hunting Rifle.
Anti-gunners say an AR-15 has deadlier bullets than a hunting rifle, but a .308 shot out of an old-fashioned M1A or a bolt-action hunting rifle is much more damaging than the AR-15’s .223 round. Both rounds can put a hole in a creature at a hundred yards and render it dead, except the common .308 hits its target with much more energy and velocity, creating a greater impact wound, unlike the clean-hitting .223.
False Claim #6: Assault Weapons Have Faster Rates Of Fire
Semi-auto is semi-auto. An AR-15 is not a fully automatic weapon and only fires as fast as you can pull the trigger. Everyone who has ever fired one knows this. In fact, the process of getting a true automatic weapon involves a mountain of paperwork and months of waiting.
For the curious, any citizen who wants to own a fully automatic weapon must be a special occupational taxpayer with a federal firearms license which allows the purchaser to own a fully automatic weapon as well as a letter from law enforcement.
While this is law, it still has not prevented criminals from getting their hands on illegally modified automatic pistols.
False Claim #7: The AR-15 Is A Weapon Of War
This is simply not true. The AR-15, in its modern form, was designed as a civilian version of the M4 Carbine, a select-fire service rifle. No modern army anywhere in the world has ever been issued semi-automatic AR-15s en masse, and the rifle has never been used in any major conflicts.
This is mostly due to its limitations as a weapon. The AR-15’s lack of full-auto mode means it is terrible for laying down suppressing fire, a required component of any modern infantry doctrine.
False Claim #8: America Is Leading The World In Violent Gun Crimes
Brazil leads the world in total gun crime, with 49,436 people dying in 2019, as opposed to the 37,040 killed in the United States. Regarding gun deaths per 100k residents, El Salvador leads the rest of the world with 36.78 per 100k.
Narco states like Colombia and collapsed socialist states like Venezuela are far more dangerous than the United States, but lack of media coverage in these countries combined with a lack of public interest in violence in South America make it seem like the United States is the most dangerous place in the western hemisphere.
False Claim #9: These Weapons Should Only Belong In The Hands Of The Police And Military
This is exactly what the Chinese did. Look at them now.
False Claim #10: There Should Be More Background Checks.
There are background checks—people who say this typically aren’t gun owners and have never bought a firearm. Federal background checks must be run for any purchase from a dealer. Mass shooters who slip through the cracks have typically never done anything wrong, and no background check in the world could determine what will happen to a shooter two or three weeks down the line since no crime has been committed yet.
The very people who want to take guns away don’t know what they’re talking about. There is, in fact, no true definition of an “assault weapon,” and the term is exclusively used in anti-gun circles for the sole purpose of villainizing a firearm because of its cosmetic appearance. There is no such thing as a common-sense gun law because anti-gun lawmakers themselves don’t have the common sense necessary to research what they’re trying to get rid of.
In the author’s opinion, the primary factor behind mass shootings is not rooted in history.
Prior to the Gun Control Act of 1968, when access to fully automatic machine guns was more lenient, such incidents were relatively rare, but a significant shift occurred after the 1999 Columbine Shooting. This event seemingly popularized the idea among disturbed individuals that committing a mass shooting could bring them fame and notoriety.
Many modern mass shooters have mental issues, write manifestos, usually plan out their shootings at “gun-free zones,” and intend to die in a blaze of glory to be “remembered forever.” The solution isn’t to ban a specific type of gun. A mass shooter can still kill as effectively with a shotgun or pistol as they could with an “evil, scary AR-15.” The solution is twofold: give people better, more affordable access to mental healthcare and make every school, office, and place of worship a hardened target.
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Michael Valderrama writes about various topics in the field of firearms for websites like GunLove, Sightmark, Pulsar, BulletSafe, INFORCE, Kopfjäger, and Firefield.