Gun Control & RKBA
In reply to the discussion: Exactly what is "an open and honest conversation about guns"? [View all]GreenStormCloud
(12,072 posts)Every year, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Report, twice a many people are murdered by hands and feet (beaten, kicked, or strangled to death) than are killed by all types of rifles combined.
Since rifles are so rarely used for crime (About 3% of gun crimes) any attempt to regulate them would use up enormous political capital for next to no gain.
The 1994 Assault Weapons Ban was a fraud. It actually banned nothing except for some cosmetic features on some rifles. (Flash suppressors, bayonet lugs, etc.) The real pupose of the AWB was increminalism. Get some minor things banned, then slowly widen the scope of the ban until it was an all encompasing ban. Both sides thought they would gain by requiring the AWB to be renewed in ten years. The NRA types thought that they would have enough political muscle in ten years to kill any renewal. The controllers thought that in ten years they would introduce and be able to pass a renewal ban that had teeth to it. They did introduce H.R. 2038 in 2003, http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:H.R.+2038: and it did have teeth, but it died a nonpartisan death as Democrats and Republicans alike ran from it.