To Ban or Not To Ban

Which brings us to the crux of the matter. The assault weapon ban. For politicians it's political hay and that will certainly keep it in the news. Kerry will lambast Bush, and Bush will keep trying to pass the blame solely to Congress. The only reason I can see not to renew the ban is that some of our elected officials were given or promised something more important to them than past and future victims of assault weapon violence. Money, power, political longevity... whatever.

Somehow, I think that arguments concerning the 2nd Amendment would be lost on this fellow. Arguments that the assault weapons ban doesn't actually do anything might have more traction, but I don't get the impression that the law needs to be effective for him to support it. It makes him feel better; that's all that's required.

For the NRA it's some sort of moral stand; if I may be allowed to use that word in this context. Their argument is that criminals have back-alley ways of getting firearms and that if the government takes away semi-automatic weapons with 30-round magazines, pistol grips, flash-suppressors, folding stocks and bayonet attachments the nation will overnight turn into a police state/war-zone in which citizens most basic rights do not exist.

Think it can't happen here? It already has.

Having seen hunting and the military close up, I can confidently say that the two are not related. Never has a hunter been called upon to put thirty rounds into a rabbit in ten seconds while hiding the flash from his buddies so he can successfully leap out and bayonet them. The occasion just doesn't arise. I'm not even sure Ted Nugent could say that with a straight face.

Only reporters who don't pay attention to what gun owners are saying believe that the assault weapons ban has anything to do with hunting. No, there's not really any need for a 30-round magazine in order to hunt rabbit. That's not why we want to have them.

That's my view. Private citizens simply don't need assault rifles. Period.

It's his view, sure... too bad his view is unsupported by any actual facts. I'd suggest that maybe private citizens simply don't need laser printers, either, but as a reporter and member of the elite "press", this guy would probably agree with that too.

The view we ought to all be listening to, though, is that of the parents of the Columbine dead. And the surviving family members of victims of gang violence in LA. And... and... and.

Why? The assault weapons ban didn't stop Columbine despite being in place for 4 years before that incident. And as for gang violence... remember those Korean shopkeepers patrolling the roofs of their shops with AK-47s? I'd listen to them, and we don't even need to find "surviving family members".

I have trouble being amusing and sarcastic on this issue. It seems like such a no-brainer. A recent poll by the Annenberg Public Policy Center showed that 70% of Americans want an assault weapon ban. So what we have here is a case of less than one in three people setting policy for the rest of us. Or, really, the NRA setting policy for the rest of us. Or, really, only part of the NRA setting policy for the rest of us. I have family and acquaintances who are members and who are 100% for the ban.

And have you checked to see whether the poll actually defines what an assault weapon is, and explains that it doesn't cover machine guns? No? Thought not.

So how in hell does this happen? How did the NRA lobby become so powerful? Are they threatening to mow congressmen down in the streets if they don't vote their way? Holding family pets for ransom? I truly don't know.

Have you stopped beating your wife yet? I truly don't know. I do know it's senseless to make stupid accusations when you admit to having no evidence to support them.

I do know this: If you and I don't make it clear, personally, to our congressmen where we stand on this; clear that their jobs are on the line; then we can partially blame ourselves for the next Columbine.

The Assault Weapons Ban passed in 1994. Columbine happened in 1999. Those are facts: the assault weapons ban did not stop Columbine.