Expired Gun Ban Had Deeper Implications

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Expired Gun Ban Had Deeper Implications

Congressman Terry Everett, September 20, 2004

Last week, the ten-year-old Federal assault weapons ban
expired amid much hype from gun opponents and the national
media that the law’s disappearance would suddenly escalate
gun-related crime in America. These alarmist claims ring
hollow when one looks at the actual facts about the gun ban.
The U.S. House leadership has already made it clear that
this weapons law will not be renewed.

Gun rights opponents have long made no secret about their
intent to limit Americans’ ability to exercise their Second
Amendment right to bear arms. Any way they can block gun
access and ownership is a victory for them and a defeat for
law-abiding citizens who wish to have guns for their own
protection and recreation. The 1994 Federal assault weapons
ban is a classic example of why gun control does nothing to
stop violent crime.

A decade ago, the Clinton Administration and liberals in
Congress fooled many in America into believing that passage
of the assault weapons ban was essential to controlling
violent crime in the United States. The law banned
semi-automatic rifles featuring detachable magazines with
more than ten rounds of ammunition and more than one
attachment such as a pistol grip, a flash suppressor or a
bayonet mount. Gun opponents said that classic military
style assault weapons such as the AK-47 and Uzi would be
prohibited under this new law.

What is most interesting about the assault weapons ban is
that it really had no appreciable difference in the
ownership of such weapons. Many of the high profile rifles
supposedly banned by the assault weapons law were already
prohibited from importation into the United States since
1989. Gun opponents didn’t seem to care that their new gun
ban law was just hype. After all, they are more interested
in passing anti-gun laws than in actually fighting crime in
America.

An independent study of gun-related violence in this country
recently released by the National Institute of Justice says
the gun law was practically irrelevant in reducing crime.
This examination of criminal activity for over a decade
carefully considered the impact of the ten-year-old gun ban.
While violent crime involving guns has been on a steady
decline since 1993 – a year before the passage of the
Federal assault weapons ban – the study said the law was not
responsible. “Should it be renewed, the ban’s effects on
gun violence are likely to be small at best and perhaps too
small for measurement,” the report stated.

So there you have it. While gun opponents and the liberal
media would have you believe that the expiration of the gun
ban would unleash waves of gun violence across our land, the
truth is the law was toothless and redundant. So why make
such a fuss over a hollow law? It was a deliberate attempt
by anti Second Amendment politicians to pass laws
restricting lawful gun ownership. Again, it is not
important to them that the result of such laws is only to
keep guns from law-abiding citizens – not the criminals.

A glaring example of what total gun control would really
mean is Washington, DC which currently has a 28-year gun ban
on the books. Published reports have noted that the
homicide rate in the nation’s capital has risen 200 percent
from 1976 to 2001 while the national rate climbed only 12
percent. Where from this can one conclude that banning
lawful gun ownership lowers violent crime?

I have recently joined 227 of my House colleagues in
cosponsoring legislation to repeal the Washington, DC gun
ban and return the right of gun ownership to law-abiding
citizens. The “D.C. Personal Protection Act” is expected
to come up for a vote in the House this year.

Congressman Terry Everett, a Republican, represents
Alabama’s Second Congressional District, which includes the
state capitol, Montgomery.