10 Myths: Biden Calls For "Assault Weapons" Ban, Magazine Capacity Restriction
Democrats, media, can't get past tried and failed policies as their only solutions
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President Biden today called for another “assault weapons” ban and a mystery restriction on standard capacity magazines:
A few corrections:
1) The “assault weapons” ban did not reduce crime or criminal possession. A ban on standard capacity (what politicians hyperbolically call “large”) won’t reduce crime and novice mag swaps take only seconds. This is an unenforceable law that sets the stage for further restriction.
2) “Assault weapons,” or what maliciously dishonest lawmakers or genuinely clueless people call commonly-owned semi-auto rifles, are responsible for only a small fraction of homicides annually:
One of the worst mass shootings was VA Tech and involved pistols.
3) There is no “Charleston loophole.”
4) There is no “Internet loophole.”
5) Waiting periods can kill people.
6) Legal private transfers are already-federally regulated. We know this because it is why there exist penalties for selling to prohibited possessors or transferring sans FLL across state lines:
Universal background checks have not reduced crime in the states where they’ve been implemented. Example A: California.
7) Crime isn’t driven by criminals who obtain guns via legal private transfers. The majority (90%) of criminals do not obtain their firearms from a retail source. From BJS:
An estimated 287,400 prisoners had possessed a firearm during their offense. Among these, more than half (56%) had either stolen it (6%), found it at the scene of the crime (7%), or obtained it off the street or from the underground market (43%). Most of the remainder (25%) had obtained it from a family member or friend, or as a gift. Seven percent had purchased it under their own name from a licensed firearm dealer.
Criminals also obtain guns from illegal, or straw purchases. They don’t have to worry, because 4473 falsifications aren’t usually prosecuted anyway, for those rare criminals dumb enough to go that route. Felons in Chicago are not obtaining guns through retail or any other legal means.
UCBs don’t work. California already showed us that:
“In the 10 years after policy implementation, firearm suicide rates were, on average, 10.9 percent lower in California than expected, but we observed a similar decrease in non-firearm suicide,” said Garen Wintemute, professor of emergency medicine and director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at UC Davis, senior author on the study.
“This suggests that the policies’ estimated impact on firearm suicide may be part of broader changes in suicide risk around the time that the California policies were implemented,” he said.
The study found no net difference between firearm-related homicide rates before and during the 10 years after policy implementation.
8) Everything called for is covered by 18 U.S.C. § 922. More here.
9) The Lautenberg Amendment covers domestic abuse and bars (the law’s language is unartful) offenders from legal purchase or possession.
10) The military does not carry AR-15s and has never carried AR-15s.
AR-15s are not mil-spec; for them to be considered such they need to be equipped for select fire capacity, meaning they can be easily adjusted with a switch to fire in semi-automatic, three round burst, and/or fully-automatic modes. The military began using M16s in the 60s, adapted from the civilian version of the AR-15. M16s are not AR-15s.
BONUS: This is not even remotely true:
I shouldn’t have to explain in detail how it is much more laborious to legally purchase a firearm than it is to vote. It sounds like this lawmaker is arguing for photo ID to vote, which, if so, is accepted.
We still know little about the murderer or how he obtained his firearm; he reportedly had a legally purchased pistol meaning he had to have passed a background check at one point. Before speculating further Biden and his party and media should wait for further facts.
100% spot on Dana. I would love to get a nickel for every time someone uses the word "Assault" weapon(s). My Rifles didn't "Assault" anyone. So they can all pound sand. Looking at the FBI crime reports, they still can't see the truth! God are they that DUMB?
Always a great read. Thanks for all your work Dana.