Tell the Truth About “Assault Weapons” By Defending the Second Amendment

Tell the Truth About “Assault Weapons” By Defending the Second Amendment

01/22/20131 Comment by Gabriella HoffmanIn the weeks following the Sandy Hook massacre, President Obama and his supporters have come together to push for more restrictions on the Second Amendment. Last Wednesday, Obama-surrounded by children so as to not let a “crisis go to waste”-called for more gun control in the form of universal background checks, limits to high capacity magazines, and a renewal of the 1993 Federal Assault Weapons Ban. His directive includes 23 executive orders. The rabidly anti-gun hysteria emanating from the Left should concern you. Fox News Insider recently reported on a story about a 5 year-old girl suspended from school for threatening to shoot her classmate with a Hello Kitty toy gun that shoots bubbles.  It reads, “The Mount Carmel Area Elementary School originally suspended the child for 10 days for making what they called a "terroristic threat." The punishment was later reduced to two days. The girl’s family has hired a lawyer and is fighting the suspension.” Talk about outrageous. Since when do bubbles assault people?The Left’s crusade against “assault weapons” has to be exposed. Our side must clarify what an “assault weapon” is, and challenge their smear campaign against our right-to-bear arms. Much to the dismay of the media and this administration, Americans are fighting back and defending their Second Amendment rights. The term “assault weapon” is a pejorative phrase used by the anti-gun lobby to undermine the Second Amendment. In Stanford Law and Policy Review, Bruce H. Koboyashi and Joseph E. Olson wrote, “Prior to 1989, the term "assault weapon" did not exist in the lexicon of firearms. It is a political term, developed by anti-gun publicists to expand the category of "assault rifles."” (Read more about “assault weapons” at The Truth About Assault Weapons.)It’s imperative to distinguish the difference between so-called “assault weapons” and military-style rifles. Semiautomatic weapons, think AR-15's, fire one round whenever the trigger is pulled. In contrast, fully automatic machine guns fire multiple rounds whenever the trigger is pulled. The Left gets up in arms about semiautomatic weapons with cosmetic features bearing similarities to fully automatic rifles, so we must articulate why these guns don’t pose a threat to our livelihood.Additionally, studies show that gun control policies are ineffective. One study conducted by the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy concluded that gun control doesn’t prevent gun-related crime. It also concludes that there’s a negative correlation between guns and crimes committed: the more guns available, the less crime there is. The Daily Telegraph reported that gun-control haven Great Britain is the violent crime capital of the European Union with 2,034 crimes recorded per 100,000 people, while gun-toting America has 466 crimes recorded per 100,000 people. An American University study recently found that 60 percent of high schoolers and college students plan to own firearms in the future, asreported by Campus Reform. It’s also recorded that women use guns200,000 times a year to defend themselves against sexual abuse.The Second Amendment reads, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”The facts favor the Second Amendment and responsible gun ownership. It’s morally imperative to tell the truth about “assault weapons” by putting an end to this nonsense. Remember–tyranny begins when citizens become disarmed. Learn from history and fight for the preservation of our Second Amendment rights here in this great nation.