I’m getting really tired of all of this blather about banning so-called "assault weapons". First, there is no such gun classification as an "assault weapon". The term "assault weapon" is a political term, concocted by the Democrats in the 1990's for the purposes of scaring uninformed people.
Second, banning things doesn't work. Fully automatic weapons have been banned in the U.S. since the 1920's, yet there are plenty of gang members and mobsters who have them. The U.S. government has spent countless billions of dollars in the U.S., Mexico and Columbia trying to eradicate illicit drugs, yet there is more cocaine and marijuana in the country that ever. I can cite other examples of how banning things just doesn't work. (Yes, some conservatives need to learn a lesson here too.)
Third, last year more people were murdered with hammers (about 600) than rifles (about 350). Murders committed with semi-automatic "assault" rifles were a tiny fraction of the murders committed with all rifles. Most gun murders (about 9,000) involved hand guns, not rifles, and certainly not "assault" rifles. There were an additional 4,000 murders in the U.S. last year that didn't involve any kind of gun at all. Over 700 people were murdered with bare hands.
Osama bin Laden didn't need an "assault" rifle to kill 3,000 people. Timothy McVeigh didn't need one to kill 168 people either. If someone is hell bent on causing mayhem, they will find a way to do it with or without guns.
As usual, all of this blather about "assault" rifles is nothing but more feel good nonsense from the politicians, which won't accomplish anything of real value.
