The Assault Weapons Ban Didn’t Work Then and It Won’t Work Now

Townhall.com ^ | December 30, 2012 | Doug Giles

[Kaslin]

Senator Dianne Feinstein is queuing up come January 2013 to retable—yet again—an Assault Weapons Ban (AWB) in order to “severely mitigate the possibilities of another Sandy Hook atrocity.” Great idea, Dianne, as the first AWB that Clinton signed into law worked wonders in schools from 1994-2004. It was awesome. It panned out wonderfully aside from the following:

• November 7, 1994: Wickliffe, Ohio: (Wickliffe Middle School shooting) Keith Ledeger, 37, a former student at the school, shot and killed custodian Pete Christopher and wounded four other adults.
• January 12, 1995: Seattle, Washington: A 15-year-old Garfield High School student left school during the day and returned with his grandfather’s 9mm semiautomatic handgun. He wounded two students.
• October 12, 1995: Blackville, South Carolina: (Blackville-Hilda High School shooting) Anthony Sincino, 16, killed one teacher and wounded another before committing suicide.
• November 15, 1995: Lynnville, Tennessee: (Richland High School shooting) James Rouse, 17, killed a student and teacher and seriously wounded another teacher with a .22-caliber rifle.
• February 2, 1996: Moses Lake, Washington: (Frontier Middle School shooting) Barry Loukaitis, 14, killed a teacher and two students and wounded another student when he opened fire on his algebra class.
• August 15, 1996: San Diego, California: (San Diego State University shooting) Frederick Martin Davidson, a 36-year-old graduate student killed three professors that he believed were involved in a conspiracy against him.
• September 17, 1996: State College, Pennsylvania: (Hetzel Union Building shooting) Jillian Robbins, 19, shoots and kills one student and injures two outside.
• February 19, 1997: Bethel, Alaska: Bethel Regional High School student Evan Ramsey, 16, shot and killed the school’s principal and one student, and wounded two other students.
• October 1, 1997: Pearl, Mississippi: (Pearl High School shooting) Luke Woodham, 16, murdered his mother at home before killing his ex-girlfriend and another student and wounding seven others at Pearl High School. He and his friends were said to be outcasts who worshiped Satan.
• November 27, 1997: West Palm Beach, Florida: Conniston Middle School student Tronneal Magnum, 14, fatally shot Johnpierre Kamel, 14, outside school after an argument over a wristwatch.
• December 1, 1997: West Paducah, Kentucky: (Heath High School shooting) Three students were killed and five wounded by Michael Carneal, 14, as they participated in a prayer circle.
• December 15, 1997: Stamps, Arkansas: Joseph “Colt” Todd, 14, concealed in a wooded area on school grounds, shoots and wounds two students as they were entering Stamps High School.
• March 24, 1998: Craighead County, Arkansas: Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, killed four students and one teacher and wounded ten others as Westside Middle School emptied during a fire alarm intentionally set off by Golden.
• April 24, 1998: Edinboro, Pennsylvania (Parker Middle School dance shooting) Andrew Wurst, 14, fatally shot teacher John Gillette, 48, and wounded two students and a teacher at an 8th grade graduation dance.
• May 19, 1998: Fayetteville, Tennessee: Jacob Davis, 18, shoots Robert Creson, 18, in a dispute over a girl.
• May 21, 1998: Springfield, Oregon: After killing his parents at home, Kip Kinkel, 15, drove to Thurston High School where he shot and killed two students and wounded 25 others.
• June 15, 1998: Richmond, Virginia: A 14-year-old student of Armstrong High School wounds a teacher and a school volunteer.
• December 10, 1998: Detroit, Michigan: Professor Andrzej Olbrot is killed by graduate student Wlodzimierz Dedecjus, 48.
• April 20, 1999: Littleton, Colorado: (Columbine High School massacre) Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, killed 12 students and one teacher, and wounded 21 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School.
• May 20, 1999: Conyers, Georgia: (Heritage High School shooting) Six students injured by Thomas Solomon Jr., 15.
• November 19, 1999: Deming, New Mexico: A 13-year-old girl fatally shot at Deming Middle School by Victor Cordova Jr., 13. Cordova stated he had intended to commit suicide but was jostled by others and the gun moved.
• February 29, 2000: Elementary School, Flint, Michigan: 6-year-old Dedrick Owens, youngest-ever school shooter. Kayla Rolland was the single fatality.
• May 26, 2000: Lake Worth, Florida: Lake Worth Middle School Florida teacher Barry Grunow was fatally shot by his student, 13-year-old Nathaniel Brazill, who had returned to school after being sent home at 1 p.m. by the assistant principal for throwing water balloons. Brazill returned to school on his bike with a 5-inch Raven and four bullets stolen from his grandfather the week before. Brazill was an honor student. Grunow was a popular teacher and Brazill's favorite.
• August 28, 2000: University of Arkansas shooting at Fayetteville, Arkansas: At approximately 12:14 pm, Dr. John R. Locke, 67, Director of the Comparative Literature Program was shot and killed in his office by James E. Kelly, 36, a Comparative Literature PhD candidate who had recently been dismissed from the program for lack of progress toward his degree. Kelly shot Dr. Locke three times before taking his own life in Dr. Locke's office after it was cordoned off by campus police.
• September 26, 2000: Darrel Johnson, 13, offender in Louisiana school shooting with 1 student fatality.
• March 5, 2001: Charles Andrew William, age 15, offender in California school shooting at Santana High School, 15 wounded 2 of whom died.
• March 30, 2001: Donald R. Burt Jr., age 18, offender in Indiana school shooting with 1 student fatality.
• September 24, 2003: John Jason McLaughlin, age 15, offender in Minnesota school shooting with 2 student fatalities.
• February 2, 2004: Unidentified offender in Washington, DC school shooting with 1 student fatality.
• May 7, 2004: Unidentified 17-year-old offender in Maryland school shooting with 1 student fatality.

And that’s excluding the Fairchild Air Force Base Massacre in 1994; the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building Massacre in 1995; the Caltrans Maintenance Yard Massacre in 1997; the Connecticut State Lottery Headquarters Massacre in 1998; the Wedgewood Baptist Church Massacre of 1999; the Xerox Office Building Massacre in 1999; the Edgewater Technology Office Massacre in 2000; and the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks which killed nearly 3,000 people (in which the culprits used box cutters and airplanes to pull that one off). We should have had an Assault Box Cutter and Airplane Ban in place I guess.

Yep, excluding the aforementioned, the AWB that the Left put into practice nearly two decades ago really mitigated murderous schoolyard and workplace evil for its ten-year run, right?

Ah, who am I kidding? The Assault Weapons Ban didn't work. School shootings shot through the roof, and lo and behold killers still found a way around the uber-strict regulations to carry out their death wishes with an assortment of weapons. Yep, correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the biggest spike in school shootings in our nation’s short history occurred during the initial AWB. Google it and get back to me.

Oh, and another thing according to a comprehensive Congressional Research Service report on guns and gun control legislation: Less than 2% of 203,300 state and federal prisoners who were armed during the crime for which they were incarcerated “used, carried, or possessed a semiautomatic assault weapon.” If the hooligans did use a gun it was mostly your normal, non-funky firearm, i.e. mostly hunting guns and non-"assault" weapons. But we can rest assured that the Progressives would never come after our Remington 870s and our revolvers (because they promised). Never. Ever. Ever.

In addition to the AWB not really stemming the tide of gun violence in the public school systems, it sure didn’t calm things down in the “gun-free” Windy City, as Chi-town racked up a whopping 7,636 murders during the Clinton ban.

Speaking of Chicago, this year alone 446 kids have been shot where guns have been verboten, and just this week Chicago hit 500 murders that have now occurred in the “gun free” Toddlin’ Town for 2012.

It appears as if our former AWB and our current “gun free” zones don’t work.

[tet68]

Considering that fellow who shot the two fire fighters
had killed his grand mother with a hammer, perhaps
a hammer ban would be in order. All hammers made after
this date, that have one of the following features,
a handle, or claws.

Course there are a billion hammers in circulation
already but that won’t stop idiocy like this.

“From my cold dead nail apron”.

[RC one]

75% of all murders are committed by blacks and Hispanics and 98% of those murders don't involve what might be considered an assault rifle. The vast majority of those murderers could not legally purchase the firearm they used to commit murder. And the Democrats think they can reduce violent homicides best by targeting law abiding, working, tax paying, white males and the weapons USED LEAST OFTEN TO MURDER PEOPLE. Does this not smell a little fishy?

[SWAMPSNIPER]

It isn’t expected to work, it’s only a small step toward the total ban they want.

[Morris70]

Nobody’s old enough to remember prohibition?

What about cocaine ? That legal now ? You can practically get it in any state tax free.

[jonrick46]

Guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens is a deterrent. They have always been a deterrent and will continue to be a deterrent. Guns should be the best that technology can make them in order to be a deterrent. That is what the Founding Fathers intended them to be.

Guns are a deterrent to those who threaten life, liberty and property. Any questions?

[wastedyears]

I was born during the first year of Reagan’s second term. I didn’t care to know about the assault weapons ban in 1994. I did however want OJ to be found guilty.

[Eagles6]

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

[lentulusgracchus]

LOL — before I shut myself up, considering the grimness of the subject.

[lentulusgracchus]

(Art.) Speaking of Chicago, this year alone 446 kids have been shot where guns have been verboten, and just this week Chicago hit 500 murders that have now occurred in the “gun free” Toddlin’ Town for 2012.

No, no, no! That's because other, irresponsible, gun-coddling jurisdictions have been irresponsibly flooding Chi-town with your criminal-favorite pistols (the standard offending weapon is still a .38 Spl revolver with a 4-6" barrel), making it impossible for Chicago's Finest to do their jobs.

You're just going to have to learn to quit arguing, give up, be overcome and eaten and digested by the Superior Hive Mind. Lie down, die, die, be silent!

[lwoodham]

These people who are so obsessed with outlawing guns haven’t really thought this out. I would like to see how many of them would rather be chopped up with a machete or shot with a gun if those were the only 2 choices. I bet 100% would choose a gun. I would. You take away the guns criminals will find another way. It could be gasoline or propane bombs, acid in the face, machete, knife, bow and arrow, baseball bat, car, an endless list. The only real reason any politician wants to ban guns is they see it as danger to their power or their tyrannical government in case “We the People get fed up with their crap.

[umgud]

The gun grabbers goal isn’t to stop crime. It is to disarm law abiding citizens thru incrimental infringement.

[gotribe]

Clearly, the answer is to ban all guns. That’s how the dems will spin this.

[JPG]

When any congress critter screams that we must ‘do something’, keep a sharp eye on your rights and your wallet.

[wrench]

If they ban them, this time things will be different. Any attempt at controland registration will be worse than Canada’s experience with their gun control attempts.

Anyone that wants a full auto, short barrel shotgun or rifle, or silencers will just get them as the penalty will be the same for having a silenced full auto without registration as for having a 10-22 with a banana mag.

With every step the libs take to increase control, we move closer to being a 3rd world country, and the firm establishment of a thriving black market (where EVERYTHING is available for a price) is just part of that transformation the dems want to make happen.

[Boomer One]

Neighbor beat his wife to death with a hammer in 1950 and threw the bloody, hair coated hammer into our yard where my older sister found it. If they had only enacted a ban back then, I’ll bet this grandmother would still be alive (or killed by another means).

[Boomer One]

Congress (mainly libs) continues to focus on what they perceive as “assault weapons”. But what will happen when we have a mass killing with shotguns? One shell can do a lot of damage with even more collateral damage. Think reloading is an issue? Empty a shotgun on a crowd and see who’s close enough to stop you from reloading and shooting again. Does anyone remember the “Washington Sniper”? A Bushmaster was the weapon used and therefore assault weapons were bad despite the fact that only one shot was fired at any victim. Do not be blinded by media - this is step one on a total weapons ban. Any bill submitted must be rejected in entirety. We’ve got to stop blaming objects for actions taken by people. Put the responsibility where it belongs, not on the object.

[Atlantan]

One protester shows up at Denver gun show.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2012/12/29/lone-protester-pickets-tanner-gun-show-in-denver/

[servantboy777]

>>What about cocaine ? That legal now ? You can practically get it in any state tax free.<<

You are absolutely correct. All this poppycock will accomplish is to create a new huge black market for ammunition and weapons.

Legal gun owners, becoming outlaws with the stroke of a pen just for attempting to preserve the rights we’ve enjoyed since America’s founding.

Alcohol prohibition was responsible for hundreds of thousands of lives lost. The black hole called the war on drugs has caused a huge black market and has caused hundreds of thousands of lives.

When will we ever learn.

[Blood of Tyrants]

It isn’t designed to stop shootings, it is designed to harass gun owners and give the government a database of EBR’s so they cna begin the process of taking them away.