Assault weapons ban?

Question

I have to write a paper addressing my opinion of the Assault weapons ban and im clueless. So far I’ve got the information on what it is and what it stands for. I want to say that I don’t believe in it because of crime rate but my question is did crime rate go up or down?

The state i live in is Michigan

Answer 1

No the crime rate did not go down because of the Assault rifle ban. The ban itself is a myth. The "ban" did not remove a single weapon from the hands of law abiding citizens. The only thing that the "ban" did was change cosmetic features on weapons that were to produced in the future.

Confiscation of guns awlays results in an increase in crime, look at the crime rates in Great Britatin and the rest of Europe. Despite what you have been told they are much higher than in the USA. The home invasion rate in Australia rose 300% after their confiscation of weapons.

Please read "More Guns, Less Crime" by John Lott there is a wealth of information in it. There have been people trying to refute him for 10 years. They have been able to call him names but they cannot refute his data

Answer 2

Assault Weapons have only one purpose that is to kill other humans. A ban on assault weapons makes it illegal to own them. This is a good thing. People who own these as collectors are collecting a dangerous weapon. Maybe they should find a better hobby.
The argument is that criminals will ignore the law. They wouldn't be criminals if they didn't ignore the law. So yes the gangster types would still have them but they would be arrested when they were caught with them. Another option is to have all collectors register these weapons as collection pieces. Any non registered pieces would be confiscated and the bearer would be fined or arrested depending on the amount of weapons found.
Many NRA people believe it is their right to bear arms but they are misinterpreting the constitution by failing to read the remainder of the sentence. It states that the right to bear arms in order to form a militia is a states right. Not a person has the right to run around with guns. But they are a powerful lobby and many in Congress and the Senate like to hunt both Republicans and Democrats. So it is hard to get the proper laws passed or to get a true interpretation of the amendment.
The original ban on assault weapons did nothing because it was so watered down all they did was change a couple of features on the weapons.
The bottom line is criminals will find a way of getting weapons. The thinking has to be changed in mankind in general. They need to stop killing everything they see. Man kills man. Man kills sharks the score on sharks vs man is sharks 1 man 1 million and we can't even swim to the levell of a goldfish. Man kills tigers. We kill so many that they are now endangered. If you are looking for the most ferocious monsterous beast on the planet look no further than the mirror. Had a hamburger today? You killed a steer. had a chicken sandwich or fillette of fish at Mickey D's you killed something.
Look at the mentality of the people answering this question. They all think they need a gun so they can have the right to.... do what? Kill.

Answer 3

The data supports both arguments. Be careful of junk arguments. eg: "Assault crime down %50 in Kitsap" This sounds good, but if their were only 10 assault weapons crime before the ban, and now only 5, it does nothing to stop crime because assault weapons are used so little in crime, even when they were legal. My belief is that the crime rate was not affected at all by the assault weapons ban. Be careful for 'spin' facts, such as the Brady Campaign or the NRA.

Answer 4

I live in Auckland, New Zealand. It is hard to get a firearms licence, it is even harder to get a licence for pistols / handguns. Automatic weapons (including BB guns and paintball guns) are banned. High capacity magazines are banned. We still have a crime rate that is increasing as per the rest of the world but I when theres drive-by shootings theres a good chance that a semi automatic weapon is going to do less damage to the surrounding area. Automatic weapons should be banned.

Answer 5

Luis needs to educate himself. The 2nd amendment has been reviewed by the Supreme Court several times. It as been ruled in court that the 2nd gives individuals the right to own firearms for their own purpose, not hunting, not forming a militia, whatever. This has been debated several times in front of the Supreme Court. The 2nd amendment affirms an individuals right to own firearms. Period. Not for hunting, not for militia duty.
Kelly and Worldwise also need to educate themselves.
An "assault rifle" is not a "hollow point submachine gun", Kelly do you even realize that hollow points and submachine guns are two different beings entirely? Geez.And increases in gun crimes cant be traced to LEGAL ownership of any type of firearm. Legal owners of guns aren't the ones committing crimes, so how is a "ban" going to help?

Answer 6

The AW ban was political BS. It did nothing to the crime rate. Machine guns have been highly regulated since 1934.

Criminals are the problem not guns.

Answer 7

It is a myth that states that have the death penalty and easier gun ownership laws deter crime.

Statistics show that these laws have little effect on crime rates in either direction. The fact is that economics is the single biggest driving force to crime.

Very few criminals think of the consequences of their acts before they act. So deterence is not a viable reason for laws.

Answer 8

At the time that I retired from law enforcement (6 years ago) it had made no measurable impact. I keep up with the news and I have seen nothing to show me that the numbers have changed. (Ask yourself when was the last time you saw on the evening news where one was used and then compare that number with all the other types of weapons used, like knives.) It's is a little easier to carry around a knife than something that is thirty inches long and weighs 8-12 pounds, and not as nearly conspicuous.

The law was one of those that was more a political statement than one that was designed to protect us from each other. The anti-gun folks had a new Demo crate in the white house and they control ed the House and Senate.

Answer 9

In my opinion there is no place for assault weapons in society other than the military or law enforcement. The crime rate has skyrocketed-whether assault weapons have anything to do with this fact, I am not sure-but, they certainly have not helped.

Answer 10

Depends what city or state youre talking about.

Do a search on Google or Yahoo for Crime Rate
Im sure you will find good answers to your question.