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The Gun Control Campaign Against The AR-15 Is Full Of Lies
At least know what you're talking about when you reference the AR-15.
Let the gun control debate rage on, but the war on the AR-15 is a bit misdirected.
At least know what you're talking about when you reference the AR-15.
“This conflict over the 2nd amendment and the attempted removal of firearms rights will ultimately result in a civil war that will eventually balkanize the US along political, cultural and, most importantly, racial lines,” wrote the Christchurch, New Zealand mass murderer in his demented manifesto. Some Americans, unfortunately, immediately used the bloodbath to support their political causes.
Sen. Chris Murphy wondered, for instance, why Americans needed “semi-automatic” rifles, at all. “Nobody needs an AR-15 to hunt,” the Connecticut senator tweeted. “Nobody needs a semi-automatic rifle to defend their home. But mass shooters NEED these weapons in order to murder as many people as efficiently as possible. And so nobody will miss them when they are illegal – except for the killers.”
Murphy’s reductionist take is wrong for several reasons, but it’s exceptionally wrong in claiming that killers would miss these rifles. Killers will always have weapons. And they don’t need AR-15s, even though there are probably between 10 and 15 million of them in circulation in the US. And unless Murphy believes federal agents should be tasked with going house to house and confiscating every “semi-automatic rifle”—an unlikely scenario—they will be with us a very long time.
Nor is there any evidence that banning the AR-15 would reduce criminality or mass shootings. There is no proof that the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (1994 to 2004) did much, or anything, to lower gun violence. What’s more: Once the assault weapon was lifted, and the AR-15 became the most popular rifle in the country, gun violence continue to precipitously fall.
Considering the political hysteria around crime, and the slight uptick in 2017, many Americans might not be aware that every category of violent crime has fallen to historic lows over the past 25 years. And while every school shooting is a distressing event, inflicting deep pain on individuals, communities, and the nation, it’s important to point out that despite the proliferation of the AR-15, schools are much safer today than they were 20 years ago—even school shootings are less common, according to researchers at Northeastern. Four times as many children were killed in schools in the early ’90s than today.
Not only has criminality dropped, but AR-15s are rarely used in the crimes, in general. If you need any more proof that the AR is singled out for political reasons, mostly due to its aesthetics, it’s worth noting that in 2017, the last year of FBI data, there were...
7,105 Americans murdered by handguns and
374 by all rifles (only a fraction of which were AR-15s.)
There were 1,604 knife homicides during that same span.
There were 656 people killed by fists and kicking.
Sen. Chris Murphy wondered, for instance, why Americans needed “semi-automatic” rifles, at all. “Nobody needs an AR-15 to hunt,” the Connecticut senator tweeted. “Nobody needs a semi-automatic rifle to defend their home. But mass shooters NEED these weapons in order to murder as many people as efficiently as possible. And so nobody will miss them when they are illegal – except for the killers.”
Murphy’s reductionist take is wrong for several reasons, but it’s exceptionally wrong in claiming that killers would miss these rifles. Killers will always have weapons. And they don’t need AR-15s, even though there are probably between 10 and 15 million of them in circulation in the US. And unless Murphy believes federal agents should be tasked with going house to house and confiscating every “semi-automatic rifle”—an unlikely scenario—they will be with us a very long time.
Nor is there any evidence that banning the AR-15 would reduce criminality or mass shootings. There is no proof that the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (1994 to 2004) did much, or anything, to lower gun violence. What’s more: Once the assault weapon was lifted, and the AR-15 became the most popular rifle in the country, gun violence continue to precipitously fall.
Considering the political hysteria around crime, and the slight uptick in 2017, many Americans might not be aware that every category of violent crime has fallen to historic lows over the past 25 years. And while every school shooting is a distressing event, inflicting deep pain on individuals, communities, and the nation, it’s important to point out that despite the proliferation of the AR-15, schools are much safer today than they were 20 years ago—even school shootings are less common, according to researchers at Northeastern. Four times as many children were killed in schools in the early ’90s than today.
Not only has criminality dropped, but AR-15s are rarely used in the crimes, in general. If you need any more proof that the AR is singled out for political reasons, mostly due to its aesthetics, it’s worth noting that in 2017, the last year of FBI data, there were...
7,105 Americans murdered by handguns and
374 by all rifles (only a fraction of which were AR-15s.)
There were 1,604 knife homicides during that same span.
There were 656 people killed by fists and kicking.
Let the gun control debate rage on, but the war on the AR-15 is a bit misdirected.
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