After the tragic mass shooting and killing of 19 young students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas by a lone gunman with an assault rifle, the republican party continues to lie and give out misinformation about the assault weapons ban of 1994. They are still trying to sell the lie that the ban did not reduce mass gun shootings and deaths and therefore gun controls do not work.
In a 2019 report from Michael Klein dated 6/9/22 for Market Watch, Mr. Klein, Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery, New York University, reported on a study of assault weapons incidents and deaths from 1981 to 2017 using the FBI's definition of a mass shooting as 4 or more deaths, not counting the shooter. His findings are as follows.
(1) From 1981 to 1994 when the assault weapons ban went into law, mass shootings were on a steady increase. (2) During the ban from 1994 to 2004 the number of deaths and the number of incidents from mass shootings slowed down. (3) After the ban expired there was an immediate and steep rise in mass shootings and deaths. (4) Risk of dying from mass shootings was 70% lower during the ban. (5) During the ban saw lower average annual rates of both mass shootings and deaths than before the ban. (6) From 1981 to the ban in 1994 the yearly average of deaths from mass shootings was 7.2 per year. (7) From 1994 to 2004 during the ban, the yearly average of deaths from mass shootings was 5.3 per year. From 2004 to 2017 when the ban was no longer in effect, the yearly average of deaths from mass shootings was 25 per year.
If the ban was in effect throughout the period of the study 1981 thru 2017 it may have prevented 314 of the 448 mass shooting deaths that occurred during the years in which there was no ban, the report suggest. The study is a powerful one and confirms an elementary belief that assault weapons, weapons of war do not belong on the streets of America because of their ability to do carnage to human life. Assault weapons are killing machines of war and should be understood by even the least educated.
Contrary to the GOP's lies and misinformation and their commitment to the IRA and the Gun Lobby, the assault weapons ban did have a positive effect on lowering the instances of mass shootings and deaths. Allowing the assault weapons ban to expire in 2004 by the Bush 43 administration was a decision that opened the door to an epidemic of mass shootings and deaths that put more of those weapons of war on the streets of America and in the hands of teenagers.
As of this writing teenagers still are able to purchase an assault style weapon of mass destruction of human life. And the GOP are still opposed to raising the age to 21, following the lead of the NRA and the Gun Lobby. President Biden was right when he said the assault weapons ban of 1994 reduced the mass shootings and death of Americans. Elected officials who lack the character and courage to stand up to the NRA and the Gun Lobby to this killing epidemic and continue to lie and hand out lies and misinformation, they have lost all respect and dignity for themselves and human life. They are unfit to serve in the U.S. Congress or any part of government.
If the assault weapons ban was still in effect, the study indicates there was a good chance the Uvalde, Texas mass shootings and deaths would not have occurred. And that is so tragic.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
Note: The assault weapons ban was part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 during the Bill Clinton Administration.
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