There is a good chance that Congress will pass an assault weapons ban in 2019 with bipartisan support
By Howie Katz
Big Jolly Times
February 21, 2018
The Florida school shootings have led to a youth uprising against assault rifles like the Ar-15. Calls for gun control in the wake of mass shootings at Columbine High School, Sandy Hook Elementary School and in Las Vegas all faded away, but this time it seems different. Once you get high schoolers energized on a cause designed to protect them from gun violence, their fervor will not fade away for months to come. And don’t think that parents aren’t listening.
The students are mobilizing a ‘March For Our Lives’ rally in Washington on March 24. This march will be well funded. George Clooney and his wife have pledged $500,000 to support the march and Oprah said she will match that. Other celebrities are sure to follow suit. And look for George Soros to toss in a substantial amount from his billions.
Soros will also outspend the NRA by pouring millions of dollars into the campaigns of congressional candidates that favor strict gun controls. Those scoffing at the calls for gun control better think twice. The Florida school shooting is a game changer.
President Trump says he now favors expanded background checks and he has ordered the Justice Department to outlaw bump stocks like those used by the Las Vegas shooter. Several Republican congressmen have said they would now support an assault weapons ban. Of course, if the Democrats had their way, they would ban civilian ownership of all firearms.
We should remember that Congress has once before passed an ‘assault weapons ban’ law which prohibited the sales of semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15. That law became effective in 1994, but it expired in 2004. It is quite possible that like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Congress will pass a similar assault weapons ban in 2019 with bipartisan support. And if that bipartisan support is strong, President Trump is unlikely to exercise his veto.
So if you want an AR-15, you better buy it by the end of the year.
The AR-15 is the most popular rifle in the U.S. Congress is not likely to enact a total ban on assault weapons. That would make instant criminals out of more than 5 million law abiding citizens because sure as shit, they are not going to turn in their beloved AR-15s and AK-47s. Paraphrasing the late Charlton Heston: “I'll give you my AR-15 when you take it from my cold, dead hands”
Will a ban on the sales of assault rifles prevent future school shootings? Of course not! Such a ban would only serve as feel-good legislation. How many of those more than 5 million AR-15 gun owners are nut jobs, or will become nut jobs, and decide to take out a bunch of school children? Only God knows the answer.
2 comments:
The AR-15 is a popular weapon with lots of folks, just not me. Soldiers complained for years about the unreliability of the AR platform. Don’t get me wrong the AR has killed a lot of people and seems to be preferred by active shooters. I think movies made the AR fashionable as the go to mean looking killing machine.
The Ruger Mini 14 or the M-14 are much better rifles. I carried a Mini 14 for years on the job. It was reliable and being the stainless steel model it could better handle the Gulf Coast climate.
That being said all firearms have one single purpose and that is to wound and kill.
However, I don’t believe anyone can predict what kind of or if any weapons ban is forthcoming.
Legislators, who basically know dick about guns, tend to go after "scary looking" guns. AR-15s are scary. Mini-14s and even M-14s have wooden (or sort of wooden) stocks, no pistol grips and no barrel shrouds. Therefore they are not scary. CA right now is looking hard at a ban on any weapon with a barrel shroud. That could be initerpreted as any full-stocked rifle if you want to go in that direction.
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