Watching the news last night (a rarity for me), and some Sheriff guy is up there saying that we need to ban Assault Weapons again. Can someone tell me why? It is not like they are used in crime or anything, so I don't get it. I guess that's it, I just don't get it.
My reasoning as to why - What they describe as Assault Weapons (really just sporting rifles since the military have an almost near monopoly on real assault weapons) accounts for a massively huge 0.2% use in all violent gun crimes. Yes that's right, 1/5th of 1% of gun crimes are committed with Assault style weapons.
Hmm. Seems to me that if you banned Assault Style Military rifles, you would not have 1/5th of 1% of gun crime. What a dramatic decrease that is?! Wow! So that means we will only have 99.8% of all gun crimes left after you remove these ugly things from our houses. Hmm. That is making headway now isn't it?!! So instead of having 100 crimes, we would have uhh... 100 crimes! Since the 0.2% is of course rounded up. Big progress! Why is it only 0.2% - simple - it is not practical for a crime! No criminal wants to lug a rifle around so that it waves a big "hear! Look at me!" type sign.
So, I researched further, I figured out that of every gun crime committed, rifles accounted for a whopping total of 4% of those! Wow! If we ban all rifles, including deer hunting rifles, and .22's, we would lower the gun crime rate to what? 96% of it's current level? So instead of 100 crimes, we would have uhh... 96 crimes! Big progress! Not!
Hmm... Could it be that the assault rifle or deer hunting rifle that is sitting in the closet is inspiring criminals to for out and shoot people with handguns? hahahahaha!
Hmm... Must be according to some people's logic since they really aren't being used for any real crimes.
This brings me to my point. Why are police chiefs and gun ban whacko's so bent on going after 1 particular style of rifle? Especially one that is designed to wound and not kill? You can't even use 5.56 mm deer hunting - it is illegal simply because there is a high likelyhood it won't kill the deer! It is nothing more than an icon for a bigger problem. A lot of hot air so that they can show people they are doing something when they really are not. Nothing more. Politics, either for a complete firearm ban, or to get re-elected by whacko's. I can't figure any other answer to the question.
I do have a suggestion however (how could you ever guess?)! So if one wants to do something to lower gun crime, I have one MAJOR recommendation:
Simply create a National Database on the Internet for Stolen guns!
How simple is that? By the way, one doesn't exist at this point, and I can't fathom why with all the other databases that are available to you!!! Why doesn't this exist? Do you realize how many stolen guns would be taken off the street from criminals with this simple database? That would instantly stop sale of how many weapons by people who want nothing to do with stolen merchandise? Tons! Criminals would have their stolen gun sales cut off at the knees in so many circumstances, I bet you would even see a major drop in gun crime as a result - not 4% mind you, but maybe even 50% or better!
Again - just my 2 cents on a controversial issue. People should stop it with the icons, and instead take real action on a real issue. I am almost convinced that politicians think they are staying in office simply because a problem exists and have no intention of fixing anything anymore.
Anyway, now you have my thoughts.... And to finish, even if you did an outright ban on this one style of rifle, you only need look across the water to figure out that the criminals would still have them. In London England, a fully automatic (real) AK-47 assault rifle - not our sporting variety, can be had for as little as 800 pounds on the street - in a country where firearms are pretty much outright banned.
Enough said.
-S