{"id":98593,"date":"2023-12-15T04:34:30","date_gmt":"2023-12-15T10:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?page_id=98593"},"modified":"2023-12-15T04:36:18","modified_gmt":"2023-12-15T10:36:18","slug":"the-governments-own-study-concluded-its-ban-on-assault-weapons-didnt-reduce-gun-violence","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?page_id=98593","title":{"rendered":"The Government\u2019s Own Study Concluded Its Ban on ‘Assault Weapons’ Didn’t Reduce Gun Violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Other studies, including two published in 2020, reached similar conclusions.<\/a><\/p>\n

Do something.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a response\u2014and perhaps a natural one\u2014to a human tragedy or crisis. We saw this response in the wake of 9-11. We saw it during the Covid-19 pandemic. And we\u2019re seeing it again following three mass shootings\u2014in Buffalo, New York, Uvalde, Texas, and Tulsa Oklahoma\u2014that claimed the lives of more than 30 innocent people, including small children.<\/p>\n

In this case, the \u201csomething\u201d is gun control. In Canada\u2014where no attack even occurred\u2014Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the introduction of legislation that would freeze handgun ownership across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat this means is that it will no longer be possible to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns anywhere in Canada,\u201d Trudeau said in a press conference.<\/p>\n

In the United States, the rhetoric has tended to be more heated but also vague, though some specific proposals have emerged.<\/p>\n

Over the weekend, Vice President Kamala Harris called for an all-out ban of \u201cassault weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know what works on this. It includes, let\u2019s have an assault weapons ban,\u201d Harris told reporters in Buffalo after attending the funeral of a victim.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, President Joe Biden, while speaking from the White House Cross Hall before a candlelit backdrop, called on Congress to pass new gun control legislation, including a ban on assault weapons.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow much more carnage are we willing to accept?\u201d Biden asked.<\/p>\n

The 1994 \u2018Assault Weapons\u2019 Ban: A Brief History
\nThere are numerous problems with this proposal, starting with the sticky question of defining what an \u201cassault weapon\u201d is.<\/p>\n

Assault rifles<\/a>, which by definition are capable of selective fire, are already banned under the National Firearms Act of 1934. The vague phrase \u201cassault weapon\u201d is basically a tautology\u2014by definition, any weapon can be used to assault someone\u2014and virtually useless. The term might be effective politically, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out<\/a>, the guns politicians choose to define as \u201cassault weapons\u201d typically \u201care no more dangerous than others that are not specified.\u201d<\/p>\n

We know this because the US had a ban on \u201cassault weapons\u201d as recently as 2004, something gun control supporters recently pointed out on Twitter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had an assault weapon ban for 10 years: 1994-2004,\u201d said Dr. Joanne Freeman, a historian at Yale University. \u201cThe world didn\u2019t end. People kept their (other) guns. They bought new guns. It was hardly an attack on gun ownership.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

We had an assault weapon ban for 10 years: 1994-2004.<\/p>\n

The world didn\u2019t end.
People kept their (other) guns.
They bought new guns.
It was hardly an attack on gun ownership.<\/p>\n

This is the least we can do.<\/p>\n

— Dr. Joanne Freeman (@jbf1755@mastodon.social) (@jbf1755) May 30, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n