The Effectiveness of an Assault Rifle Ban

George W. Bush added to his legacy of suffering, violence, hatred, and indifference when in 2004 he refused to renew the 10-year ban on assault rifles in the United States, and the impact of that has cost as many lives as those of Katrina, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton passed the Brady Bill, which mandated background checks and waiting periods on all guns, and the VCCLEA, authored by Joe Biden, among the many provisions of which was a 10-year ban on assault rifles. This ban kept the number of school shootings limited for a decade, as shown above, and school shootings have exploded in recent years.

There is no reason to own an assault rifle. The second amendment was written in the context of 1787, when the United States had just won its independence using the power of militiamen who were able to be ready with a musket they kept on the mantle. Assault rifles are military-grade weapons (it is the Republicans who demand a massive military for the purpose of self-defense) designed solely for the mass-killing of human beings. If you talk to Democrats, quite a few likely own handguns for the purpose of self-defense: nobody has ever defended themselves with an assault rifle.

Quite frankly, shooting a gun releases dopamine and oxytocin, which are released when you watch porn. This only adds credence to the argument that bigs guns are carried to make up for some type of sexual inadequacy. How this justifies the deaths of thousands of Americans every year is beyond me.

Any argument against banning assault rifles falls flat when facts become involved, and the effects of the Republican refusal to do so are violence and fear.