73dodgedart
New member
I know I'm preaching to the choir but I've got to post it. This is a paper I wrote for a freshman english class while the old ban was still in effect.
The Right to Bear Arms
The Assault Weapons Ban is a bill that was pushed through by President Clinton to begin outlawing all forms of firearms. It was in fact only a baby step in that direction, but then again the first step is the most difficult. Clinton favored this bill because he was Democratic. The Republicans are, for the most part, against most forms of gun control. It is an illogical ban that had no real justification and no positive impact.
What the bill banned was all semi-automatic (one round fired for every pull of the trigger) firearms with any one or more of the following: A bayonet lug, a flash suppressor, a high capacity magazine (holds 10 or more rounds), or a pistol grip stock. None of these affect the lethality of the firearm. Rather they are for aesthetic appeal or comfort for the shooter.
In august of 1966 Charles Whitman climbed to the top of the bell tower at Texas University, and over the span of 96 minutes he killed 16 people and wounded 30. He did this with a bolt-action rifle (a round must be manually rechambered after every shot). While in comparison two gun men in the north Hollywood shootout were covered in full body armor and used several fully automatic (rounds are continually fired while the trigger is held down) rifles injured only 15. This shows that it is not the gun but the willingness and the skill of the shooter.
One argument that pro gun control activists’ use for the assault weapons ban is that there is no use for assault weapons but to kill. This is simply not true. Many people across the United States, including myself, have a perfectly legitimate hobby of target shooting. In all reality, the ban was made as a first and rather minor step towards the ban of all weapons threw out the United States. Politicians realize that if legislation is taken in smaller, incremental steps, the public is less likely to gather strong opposition. The thinking is along the lines of slipping it in quietly, instead of knocking out the competition in one blow.
Many gun control advocates believe placing bans such as this one would reduce crime. This is not true. Gun control only serves to remove purchasing of these guns from law-abiding citizens. These add-ons are still readily available but for a much higher price. Criminals are not going to suddenly stop their illegal ways, simply because what they are doing is against one more law. England has some of the strictest gun controls in the world. There is a ban on virtually all firearms, and yet they also have one of the highest crime rates in the world.
There are several other issues associated with the ban. The ban stated that the only way an assault weapon is illegal is if it was produced after the ban was set in place (1992). This made it so that you could still buy and own assault weapons they just couldn’t be produced after the ban was placed. All this accomplished is millions of our tax dollars down the drain because the ban was lifted September 14th 2004. This made the ban last only 8 years, which had little affect on guns in our society other than the slowing of the demand for U.S. made gun parts.
There are people planning to continue the fight to reinstate the ban and put in effect other useless bans, which will likely result in another waste of the government’s time and money. Americans need to join together and fight to preserve one of the basic principles that our forefathers considered important enough to make the Second Amendment to the Constitution: The Right to Bear Arms.
The Right to Bear Arms
The Assault Weapons Ban is a bill that was pushed through by President Clinton to begin outlawing all forms of firearms. It was in fact only a baby step in that direction, but then again the first step is the most difficult. Clinton favored this bill because he was Democratic. The Republicans are, for the most part, against most forms of gun control. It is an illogical ban that had no real justification and no positive impact.
What the bill banned was all semi-automatic (one round fired for every pull of the trigger) firearms with any one or more of the following: A bayonet lug, a flash suppressor, a high capacity magazine (holds 10 or more rounds), or a pistol grip stock. None of these affect the lethality of the firearm. Rather they are for aesthetic appeal or comfort for the shooter.
In august of 1966 Charles Whitman climbed to the top of the bell tower at Texas University, and over the span of 96 minutes he killed 16 people and wounded 30. He did this with a bolt-action rifle (a round must be manually rechambered after every shot). While in comparison two gun men in the north Hollywood shootout were covered in full body armor and used several fully automatic (rounds are continually fired while the trigger is held down) rifles injured only 15. This shows that it is not the gun but the willingness and the skill of the shooter.
One argument that pro gun control activists’ use for the assault weapons ban is that there is no use for assault weapons but to kill. This is simply not true. Many people across the United States, including myself, have a perfectly legitimate hobby of target shooting. In all reality, the ban was made as a first and rather minor step towards the ban of all weapons threw out the United States. Politicians realize that if legislation is taken in smaller, incremental steps, the public is less likely to gather strong opposition. The thinking is along the lines of slipping it in quietly, instead of knocking out the competition in one blow.
Many gun control advocates believe placing bans such as this one would reduce crime. This is not true. Gun control only serves to remove purchasing of these guns from law-abiding citizens. These add-ons are still readily available but for a much higher price. Criminals are not going to suddenly stop their illegal ways, simply because what they are doing is against one more law. England has some of the strictest gun controls in the world. There is a ban on virtually all firearms, and yet they also have one of the highest crime rates in the world.
There are several other issues associated with the ban. The ban stated that the only way an assault weapon is illegal is if it was produced after the ban was set in place (1992). This made it so that you could still buy and own assault weapons they just couldn’t be produced after the ban was placed. All this accomplished is millions of our tax dollars down the drain because the ban was lifted September 14th 2004. This made the ban last only 8 years, which had little affect on guns in our society other than the slowing of the demand for U.S. made gun parts.
There are people planning to continue the fight to reinstate the ban and put in effect other useless bans, which will likely result in another waste of the government’s time and money. Americans need to join together and fight to preserve one of the basic principles that our forefathers considered important enough to make the Second Amendment to the Constitution: The Right to Bear Arms.
