Why we need a Federal Assault Weapons Ban Law NOW

@MayorOfCrushtown If teenagers couldn't buy assault weapons of mass killing designed for war, there would be far fewer mass school killings.

Guns are like drugs……. Whether they are in stores or not, you can still get em. Meth, cocaine and heroin are all illegal and are all over the street. Criminals are not concerned with gun laws any more than they are drug laws. You can take all the guns and throw them in the ocean and the next day someone will still blow up a school or fly a plane into a building. Bad people are not concerned with laws and they are flexible with their methods of destruction. Signed, Manson, McVeigh and the Unibomber

@MayorOfCrushtown Well then, since it is hopeless, we should just make sure that assault weapons are easily available to anyone, anywhere, at any time. Because being more available could never result in more crimes being committed with them, right?

The US had an assault weapons ban for ten years in the 1990s and 2000s. Mass killings went down, and have risen following the ban's expiration. Reducing clip size would also reduce the number of people killed in some of these events.

I have no problem with private ownership of guns for hunting or personal protection. But there is no legitimate use for assault weapons except killing large numbers of people quickly and efficiently. Criminals in Chicago are not going into classrooms across the country and killing students.

@windinhishair any weapon can be an assault weapon if it’s used for that purpose. That includes knives, dynamite, planes, cars, guns and rocks.

@MayorOfCrushtown It is hard to throw a rock hundreds of times a minute or stab five or six times a second. And neither one is manufactured specifically for killing large numbers of people, nor is dynamite, planes, or cars. Or most guns, for that matter.

Dynamite work much more efficient than guns. Ask Oklahoma City. @windinhishair

@MayorOfCrushtown Dynamite wasn't used in Oklahoma City. It was a fertilizer fuel oil bomb. Check your facts. And dynamite has a legitimate use. Assault weapons are designed to kill humans.

I stand corrected. So, let me rephrase then. Fertilizer fuel oil bombs are way more efficient than guns. @windinhishair

@MayorOfCrushtown Fertilizer, and fuel, have beneficial uses. Assault weapons are for killing lots of people. They are specifically designed for it and do their job well.

@windinhishair any weapon is an assault weapon if it’s used to assault. 32 years working in a prison taught me that. So many killed or injured…. Yet, no guns were used.

@MayorOfCrushtown Imagine what it would have been like if only one inmate had an assault weapon.

@windinhishair they did have assault weapons. They had weapons that were used to assault other people. Any weapon that is used for the purpose of an assault is an assault weapon.

@MayorOfCrushtown How many AR15s did you see used in your 32 years in prison? How many men killed 20 or 30 others in less than a minute by stabbing them?

@MayorOfCrushtown
Let me know when you can hide a baggy of gun in your sneaker.

@windinhishair I do see your point. They are deadly weapons. And I understand the call for stricter gun laws. And I wish that laws would solve the problem. But the only thing that will make people safer is actually changing people to take the hate out of their heart. Even if all the guns disappeared, if the hate is there, people still will not be safe.

@MayorOfCrushtown I agree with you on that. We need additional laws to limit magazine sizes and assault weapons purchases along with universal background checks. While this obviously won't eliminate mass killings, it will make a dent in them, and in my opinion any mass killing avoided is worth it. And these laws will not prevent anyone from hunting or self-protection. I just want a sensible approach for a change. What we have now is unworkable.

Your prison career would make for interesting conversation. Perhaps we can discuss it sometime.

@MayorOfCrushtown You have spent the entire day listing off things which could be misused in order to cause harm, whilst completely ignoring the fact that assault rifles are designed for the sole purpose of causing harm.

@MayorOfCrushtown The problem with Chicago isn't the strict gun laws in Illinois. It's the fact that you only have to cross state lines to find yourself in a place where the laws are much more lax. What we need are consistent laws across all 50 states.

In one regard, we do need strict laws and penalties. The penalty and harsh sentence for people who commit violence whether that is with or without a weapon. Signed, 32 years working in Corrections as a Case Analyst. Reform of mental health services would help as well. @LordShadowfire

@MayorOfCrushtown I absolutely agree. We as a country are ignoring the mental health aspect of this crisis. I'm just saying that it would help if gun laws in every state were consistently strict. That way, if somebody in California wants to shoot up their school, they can't just drive to Arizona in order to get around California gun laws.

You're correct that criminals don't give a shit about the law, by definition, so the idea is to make it inconvenient to break the law. Then, once we've made it harder to obtain semi-automatic rifles and large capacity magazines, we can address the atmosphere that causes folks to want assault rifles with tons of ammo.

@MayorOfCrushtown That's pretty much exactly our point.

@MayorOfCrushtown So let's make it easier for people to kill other people.

@OggggO @LordShadowfire pass all the laws you want, the people (law abiding and criminal) who have no intention of giving them up wont give them up, and sheriffs that dont believe in the laws wont enforce them.

@MayorOfCrushtown So, don't re-elect the sheriffs who refuse to uphold the law. Why is that even a question?