Ban the AR-15!

In the wake of the horrific shooting in Orlando, it makes sense to consider banning the AR-15

As has been noted by many experts on the Left, the AR-15 is a weapon of war designed solely for killing people by spraying hundreds of bullets from massive clips that rivals a bazooka in noise and recoil, and inspires PTSD. 

Uh,...wait, what?  Not a word of that sentence is remotely associated with the truth.

Let's ignore the fact that none of the above is true for the moment and proceed with the idea that the AR-15 must be banned. 

What would that look like? 

Not an AR-15

If you try to ban the AR-15 by name you have the minor problem in that the gun used in the actual attack was not, in fact, an AR-15.  It was a Sig Sauer MCX   There are many many rifles that look or operate like an AR-15 and are just as lethal.  So you can't ban the rifle by name. 

You have to focus on banning certain characteristics.   Like California and other states have done in the past, you would have to ban cosmetic features like pistol grips, barrel shrouds, and scary looking accessories.    

But these characteristics don't make the rifle lethal.   They only modify its capabilities or make it look mean.   A ban on features would have no effect, as has been proven in California and other places. Cosmetic bans are literally window dressing.  

In order to effectively ban AR-15 type rifles, you would need to ban the features that makes it so dangerous : a magazine fed semi-auto firing mechanisms. 

A ban on all semi auto-rifles would ban the vast majority of the millions of long guns owned by Americans today.  It would also ban most shotguns as well.  

So when you call for a ban on the AR-15, you are actually calling for the elimination of perhaps 75 million guns.  Guns, by the way, that kill fewer Americans than knives since rifles of all type account for less than 3% of all murders.

And not just a ban on the sale and manufacture of these weapons.  You need to ban possession. While the Orlando shooter bought his gun just before the shooting, the Newtown school shooter stole the gun from its legal owner. 

Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that this ban would require the confiscation of 30-40 million weapons from as many as 25 million gun owners.  

 

As we noted in an earlier post,  even 99% compliance with such a ban leaves 350,000 weapons in the hands of the most deranged 1% of gun owners.   The police will have to raid 350,000 homes defended by determined Americans armed with 'weapons of war'.

Good luck with that.