Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Definitions and Recommendations

The headline, “Two Mass Shootings Leave 29 Dead,” is horrifying, and the responses from those on the left mainly involve banning “assault weapons.” The responses from those on the right mainly have something to do with “guns don’t kill, people do,” or violent video games and the abolition of God in our society are responsible. While I agree with the responses of those on the right, these responses do not get us anywhere. Likewise, I am not a gun owner, and I assume that most, if not close to all, of us non-gun owners are confused by some of the terms that are flippantly tossed about. Only after there is an understanding of the basic terminology can we, as a country, have some reconciliation, and make some progress on this issue. The first step in reconciliation would be to have the Democratic presidential candidates keep their mouths shut, at least until the dead are buried!


What is an “assault weapon?”

There’s no technical definition of an “assault weapon.” There are fully automatic weapons, which fire continuously when the trigger is held down. These “machine guns” have been strictly regulated since 1934. Then there are semiautomatic weapons that reload automatically but fire only once each time the trigger is depressed. Semiautomatic pistols and rifles come in all shapes and sizes and are extremely common in the United States. [FYI: The AR in AR-15 refers to ArmaLite Rifle . . .not Assault Rifle. (Due to financial problems, and limitations in terms of manpower and production capacity, ArmaLite sold the ArmaLite Rifle-15, abbreviated AR-15 design and the AR-15 trademark to Colt’s Manufacturing Company in 1959. Colt started selling the semi-automatic version of the M16 rifle as the Colt AR-15 in 1964.)]
The New York Timesadmitted in 2014 that Democrats manufactured the term “assault weapons” in order to ban a “politically defined category of guns — a selection of rifles, shotguns and handguns with ‘military-style’ features’” and added that those weapons “only figured in about 2 percent of gun crimes nationwide before the ban in 1994.”In 1994 Congress passed and President Clinton signed the “Assault Weapons Ban,” which expired in 2004, and was not renewed by Congress. Although not agreed upon by all, it seems that this 10 year ban did not do much in terms of preventing killings.

What is a gun magazine?

The magazine holds additional bullets for the weapon, and can be changed out in approximately five seconds by an experienced shooter. AR-15 rifles usually come with 30 or fewer rounds in a magazine. But increasingly gun manufacturers have catered to shooters looking to have 40, 60 or 100-round magazines that traditionally were shunned because they were heavy and cumbersome. High-capacity magazines have been used in mass shootings, including in Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs, Texas, and Parkland, Florida as well as in the recent mass shootings.


What are “bump stocks?”

“Bump stocks,” for practical purposes, convert a semi-automatic weapon to an automatic weapon. They are now apparently mostly a thing of the past, as a ban on them went into effect on March 26, 2019. The ban dictated that owners of bump stocks were required to destroy them or surrender them to ATF, punishable by 10 years imprisonment and $250,000 fine.
Now that we all have a basic understanding of the terms, what do we do now? 

At this point, I recommend the following in order to slow down the slander and chaos on both sides, and hopefully move toward some reasonable compromises:

1. Totally eliminate the term “assault weapon” from the discourse, as it is confusing and and only serves to muddy the waters when used by those who do not know what the term means. Just the other day Joe Biden said that, if elected president, he would institute a national buyback program for “assault weapons.”
2. Encourage Congress to immediately reinstitute the 1994  “Assault Weapons Ban.” Since it is already written it could be passed and signed quickly. Magazine size bans need legislation, like the federal ban that ran from 1994 to 2004. I know that I said the “Assault Weapons Ban” was of only questionable effectiveness, but it could perhaps get the bickering off of the front page and restore some sanity to the process. I would suggest that this remake of the 1994 law be in effect for only for six months, so that Congress would have a reasonable length of time to come up with some sort of bipartisan, more effective resolution.
3. Immediately implement “Red Flag” laws. As President Trump said, “We must make sure that those judged to pose a risk to public safety do not have access to firearms—and that if they do, those firearms can be taken through rapid due process. That is why I have called for “Red Flag” laws, also known as Extreme Risk Protection Orders.”
4. As I noted above, politicians should keep their mouths shut, at least until the dead are buried! Beto, are you listening? Again here I agree with President Trump who tweeted, “Beto . . . respect the victims & law enforcement – & be quiet!”  At this point I am seeing many anti-Trump comments by Dems about the El Paso shooter’s manifesto, but I have not seen any comments by Republicans concerning the very liberal pro-Warren philosophy of the Dayton shooter.

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