I mean, when the urge to go hunting with an assult rifle strikes, you shouldnt have to wait a whole weekend to get your shiny new gun. <sarcasm>
Typical ignorant, anti-gunner statement. And full of false implications.
I'll bet you don't even know why people buy so-called "assault rifles." That's a pejorative, anti-gun talking point phrase anyway. Fewer violent gun crimes are committed by these "assault rifles" than by handguns.
It's common knowledge that stupid laws like the Brady Law don't actually stop crime. Gun registration doesn't work as most criminals don't leave their guns at the scene of the crime, and criminals typically do not register their guns. So the registration law is only to hinder law abiding citizens.
Fact: In 1994, before the Federal "assault weapons ban", you were eleven (11) times more likely to be beaten to death than to be killed by an “assault weapon”.155 In the first year since the ban was lifted, murders declined 3.6%, and violent crime 1.7%.156
Fact: Nationally, “assault weapons” were used in 1.4% of crimes involving firearms and 0.25% of all violent crime before the enactment of any national or state “assault weapons” ban. In many major urban areas (San Antonio, Mobile, Nashville, etc.) and some entire states (Maryland, New Jersey, etc.) the rate is less than 0.1%157
Fact: Even weapons misclassified as “assault weapons” (common in the former Federal and
California "assault weapons" confiscations) are used in less than 1% of all homicides.158
Fact: Police reports show that “assault weapons” are a non-problem:
For California:
• Los Angeles: In 1998, of 538 documented gun incidents, only one (0.2%) involved
an "assault weapon".
• San Francisco: In 1998, only 2.2% of confiscated weapons were "assault weapons".
• San Diego: Between 1988 and 1990, only 0.3% of confiscated weapons were "assault
weapons".
• “I surveyed the firearms used in violent crimes...assault-type firearms were the least
of our worries.”159
For the rest of the nation:
• Between 1980 and 1994, only 2% of confiscated guns were "assault weapons".160
• Just under 2% of criminals that commit violent crimes used “assault weapons”.161
154 Department of Defense Small Arms Identification and Operations Guide
155 FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, 1994
156 FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, Preliminary Summary, 2004
157 Gary Kleck, “Targeting Guns”, 1997, compilation of 48 metropolitan police departments from 1980-1994
158 FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, 1993
159 S.C. Helsley, Assistant Director DOJ Investigation and Enforcement Branch, California, October 31, 1988
160 Gary Kleck, “Targeting Guns”, 1997, compilation of 48 metropolitan police departments from 1980-1994
161 Gary Kleck, “Targeting Guns”, 1997, calculated from Bureau of Justice Statistics, assault weapon recovery rates
Gun Facts Version 4.2 Page 29
Copyright 2007, Guy Smith
www.GunFacts.info All Rights Reserved
Fact: Only 1.4% of recovered crime weapons are
models covered under the 1994 "assault weapons"
ban.162
Fact: In Virginia, no surveyed inmates had carried an
"assault weapon" during the commission of their last
crime, despite 20% admitting that they had previously
owned such weapons.163
Fact: Most “assault weapons” have no more firepower
or killing capacity than the average hunting rifle and
“play a small role in overall violent crime”.164
Fact: Even the government agrees. “... the weapons
banned by this legislation [1994 Federal Assault
Weapons ban - since repealed] were used only rarely in gun crimes”165
162 From statewide recovery report from Connecticut (1988-1993) and Pennsylvania (1989-1994)
163 Criminal Justice Research Center, Department of Criminal Justice Services, 1994
164 Philip McGuire, Handgun Control, Inc., April 7, 1989, Mohr C. "House Panel Issue: Can Gun Ban Work." New
York Times. April 7, 1989. P. A-15
165 “Impacts of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban: 1994-96.”, National Institute of Justice, March 1999
