Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2017 21:04:05 GMT
Rules: Be polite, be respectful of all opinions, even those you do not agree with. No name calling, no insults and NO taking this thread off topic. Let's see if we can keep at least one thread out of the vault.
Background
Following the horrific killing of 26 elementary school children and teachers in Newtown, Connecticut, by Adam Lanza using a Bushmaster .223 semi-automatic rifle, that resulted in all his victims being hit more than once[1], Dianne Feinstein has said that she will introduce a bill in the Senate to ban assault weapons. The United States has had an assault weapons ban before; from 1994 to 2004. The ban however lapsed in 2004 as it was set in motion for only ten years unless it was renewed, which Congress decided not to do. Feinstein says that the new bill will “take my bill from '94 to 2004 and perfect it.”[2] Detailed below is a summary of the 1994 assault weapons ban in the United States, which states "Title XI, Subtitle A of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 imposed a 10-year ban on the “manufacture, transfer, and possession” of certain semiautomatic firearms designated as assault weapons (AWs). The ban is directed at semiautomatic firearms that have features that appear useful in military and criminal context and rifles but unnecessary in shooting sports or self-defence (examples include flash hiders, folding rifle stocks, and threaded barrels for attaching silencers). The law bans 18 models and variations by name, as well as revolving cylinder shotguns. It also has a “features test” provision banning other semiautomatics having two or more military-style features…
The ban also prohibits most ammunition feeding devices holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition (referred to as large capacity magazines, or LCMs). Aloln LCM is arguably the most functionally important feature of most AWs, many of which have magazines holding 30 or more rounds. The LCM ban’s reach is broader than that of the AW ban because many non-banned semiautomatics accept LCMs. Approximately 18% of civilian-owned firearms and 21% of civilian-owned handguns were equipped with LCMs as of 1994.”[3]
The previous ban exempted assault weapons and large capacity magazines manufactured before the law’s 1994 introduction. Leaving the loophole that older guns could still be imported with the result that 4.7 million pre-ban LCMs were imported into the USA from 1995 through 2000.[4] This is a loophole Feinstein claims would be eliminated in the new bill as "it will ban the sale, the transfer, the importation and the possession. Not retroactively but prospectively. And it will ban the same for big clips, drums or strips of more than 10 bullets."[5] However as the ban won’t be retroactive it will not take assault weapons off the streets entirely if it was to be passed; its most significant result could potentially be as a stepping stone if it were to show some value in the regulation of firearms.
Any attempt to renew the ban would be controversial, even after two large scale shootings, one in Aurora and the other in Newtown. The National Rifle Association is a powerful lobbying group that would fight any attempt to ban assault weapons. Indeed progress has in recent decades been going in favour of reaffirming the right to hold arms not to limit it. In District of Columbia v. Heller the Supreme court ruled that the right to possess a firearm was unconnected with service in a militia and so overturned a ban in the District of Columbia on handguns[6] and in 2010 it was ruled in McDonald v Chicago that the second amendment is incorporated under the fourteenth amendment so the right to bear arms is protected from infringement by local and state government as well as federal government.[7]
n.b. while this debate is assuming that retroactively banning assault weapons will not be on the table if it was this would make proposition’s case much easier as it is rather a large loophole and many of the arguments would be much more powerful with a more complete ban.
[1] Date, Jack, ‘Adam Lanza Shot Victims at Close Range with Semi-Automatic Rifle’, ABCNews, 15 December 2012, abcnews.go.com/Blotter/connecticut-shooter-adam-lanza-mothers-guns/story?id=17984499#.UM9b72_r18E
[2] Simpson, Connor, ‘Dianne Feinstein Wants to Ban Assault Weapons’, the Atlantic Wire, 16 December 2012, www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/12/dianne-feinstein-wants-ban-assault-weapons/60033/
[3] Koper, Christopher S., et al., ‘An Updated Assessment of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban: Impacts on Gun Markets and Gun Violence, 1994-2003’, Report to the National Institute of Justice, United States Department of Justice, June 2004, www.sas.upenn.edu/jerrylee/research/aw_final2004.pdf p.1
[4] ibid
[5] Simpson, Connor, ‘Dianne Feinstein Wants to Ban Assault Weapons’, the Atlantic Wire, 16 December 2012, www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/12/dianne-feinstein-wants-ban-assault-weapons/6003
[6] Shukla, Raj Zal, ‘This House would ban handguns in Washington D.C.’, Debatabase, 2012, idebate.org/debatabase/debates/law/house-would-ban-handguns-washington-dc
[7] ‘McDonald et al. v. City of Chicago, Illinois, et al.’, Supreme Court of the United States, 28 June 2010, www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-1521.pdf
Thoughts? Let's discuss
Background
Following the horrific killing of 26 elementary school children and teachers in Newtown, Connecticut, by Adam Lanza using a Bushmaster .223 semi-automatic rifle, that resulted in all his victims being hit more than once[1], Dianne Feinstein has said that she will introduce a bill in the Senate to ban assault weapons. The United States has had an assault weapons ban before; from 1994 to 2004. The ban however lapsed in 2004 as it was set in motion for only ten years unless it was renewed, which Congress decided not to do. Feinstein says that the new bill will “take my bill from '94 to 2004 and perfect it.”[2] Detailed below is a summary of the 1994 assault weapons ban in the United States, which states "Title XI, Subtitle A of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 imposed a 10-year ban on the “manufacture, transfer, and possession” of certain semiautomatic firearms designated as assault weapons (AWs). The ban is directed at semiautomatic firearms that have features that appear useful in military and criminal context and rifles but unnecessary in shooting sports or self-defence (examples include flash hiders, folding rifle stocks, and threaded barrels for attaching silencers). The law bans 18 models and variations by name, as well as revolving cylinder shotguns. It also has a “features test” provision banning other semiautomatics having two or more military-style features…
The ban also prohibits most ammunition feeding devices holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition (referred to as large capacity magazines, or LCMs). Aloln LCM is arguably the most functionally important feature of most AWs, many of which have magazines holding 30 or more rounds. The LCM ban’s reach is broader than that of the AW ban because many non-banned semiautomatics accept LCMs. Approximately 18% of civilian-owned firearms and 21% of civilian-owned handguns were equipped with LCMs as of 1994.”[3]
The previous ban exempted assault weapons and large capacity magazines manufactured before the law’s 1994 introduction. Leaving the loophole that older guns could still be imported with the result that 4.7 million pre-ban LCMs were imported into the USA from 1995 through 2000.[4] This is a loophole Feinstein claims would be eliminated in the new bill as "it will ban the sale, the transfer, the importation and the possession. Not retroactively but prospectively. And it will ban the same for big clips, drums or strips of more than 10 bullets."[5] However as the ban won’t be retroactive it will not take assault weapons off the streets entirely if it was to be passed; its most significant result could potentially be as a stepping stone if it were to show some value in the regulation of firearms.
Any attempt to renew the ban would be controversial, even after two large scale shootings, one in Aurora and the other in Newtown. The National Rifle Association is a powerful lobbying group that would fight any attempt to ban assault weapons. Indeed progress has in recent decades been going in favour of reaffirming the right to hold arms not to limit it. In District of Columbia v. Heller the Supreme court ruled that the right to possess a firearm was unconnected with service in a militia and so overturned a ban in the District of Columbia on handguns[6] and in 2010 it was ruled in McDonald v Chicago that the second amendment is incorporated under the fourteenth amendment so the right to bear arms is protected from infringement by local and state government as well as federal government.[7]
n.b. while this debate is assuming that retroactively banning assault weapons will not be on the table if it was this would make proposition’s case much easier as it is rather a large loophole and many of the arguments would be much more powerful with a more complete ban.
[1] Date, Jack, ‘Adam Lanza Shot Victims at Close Range with Semi-Automatic Rifle’, ABCNews, 15 December 2012, abcnews.go.com/Blotter/connecticut-shooter-adam-lanza-mothers-guns/story?id=17984499#.UM9b72_r18E
[2] Simpson, Connor, ‘Dianne Feinstein Wants to Ban Assault Weapons’, the Atlantic Wire, 16 December 2012, www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/12/dianne-feinstein-wants-ban-assault-weapons/60033/
[3] Koper, Christopher S., et al., ‘An Updated Assessment of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban: Impacts on Gun Markets and Gun Violence, 1994-2003’, Report to the National Institute of Justice, United States Department of Justice, June 2004, www.sas.upenn.edu/jerrylee/research/aw_final2004.pdf p.1
[4] ibid
[5] Simpson, Connor, ‘Dianne Feinstein Wants to Ban Assault Weapons’, the Atlantic Wire, 16 December 2012, www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/12/dianne-feinstein-wants-ban-assault-weapons/6003
[6] Shukla, Raj Zal, ‘This House would ban handguns in Washington D.C.’, Debatabase, 2012, idebate.org/debatabase/debates/law/house-would-ban-handguns-washington-dc
[7] ‘McDonald et al. v. City of Chicago, Illinois, et al.’, Supreme Court of the United States, 28 June 2010, www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-1521.pdf
Thoughts? Let's discuss
