From Lois Beckett:
Over the past two decades, the majority of Americans in a country deeply divided over gun control have coalesced behind a single proposition: The sale of assault weapons should be banned.
That idea was one of the pillars of the Obama administration’s plan to curb gun violence, and it remains popular with the public. In a poll last December, 59 percent of likely voters said they favor a ban.
…It turns out that big, scary military rifles don’t kill the vast majority of the 11,000 Americans murdered with guns each year. Little handguns do. In 2012, only 322 people were murdered with any kind of rifle, F.B.I. data shows.
These statistics are not a sound argument against a curb on assault weapons. Saving even a fraction of the 322 firearm deaths caused by rifles would be a positive step. But it does illustrate politicians’ propensity to follow the path of least resistance, rather than taking effective action. A partial restriction on handguns — whether on sales, ownership, storage or requiring trigger locks — would not grab as many headlines, but would be far more effective in saving lives.
Read more at Why Do Democrats Keep Trying to Ban Guns That Look Scary, Not the Guns That Kill the Most People? – ProPublica.
When Ms Beckett puts the word ONLY in front of 322 gunshot murders, I think she has her answer.
But I think she’s asking the wrong question. It’s the bullets that kill people, not the device that launches them, yet we rarely hear anyone talk about controlling access to ammo. Why? Here’s a possible answer: In America the voters who bother to turn up for elections (about 55% of eligibles) vote for candidates who most share their values, which must surely explains Congress’s disinterest in gun safety.
Personally I’m surprised (and relieved) that the right to bear arms hasn’t been extended to nuclear weapons. Or maybe it just hasn’t been tested in court yet.
Interesting that the right to bear arms does not extend to government buildings like courtrooms. A triumph of self-preservation over interpretation.
Small guns kill the public whereas big guns kill government enforcers thats the real reason they want to ban big guns.
Interesting idea. Hadn’t thought of it that way before. Thanks.
….The right to bear arms also doesn’t extend to air travel. The fact that airplanes had not been invented at the time of the Second Amendment (1791) is no excuse. The prescient founding fathers would obviously have foreseen this, just as they foresaw the invention of automatic weapons and handguns (as opposed to flintlock pistols). Being deprived of arms to defend yourself from hijackers is downright un-American.