Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forumJoe Biden: Banning Assault Weapons Works.
'Thats why, as president, I will push to ban them again.
Each time a mass shooting strikes one of our communities we grieve. We gather our loved ones. We reach for answers and clamor for action. Each time, for a moment, it feels as if this time will be different.
But then the news cycle rolls on. And we push down the gut-churning knowledge that it will be only a matter of time before it happens again. Between El Paso and Dayton only about 13 hours elapsed.
Republican leaders try to prevent action and parrot N.R.A. messaging as Donald Trump did last week when he said, Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun.
This is the same president who during his first year in office repealed a rule President Barack Obama and I put in place to help keep guns out of the hands of people with certain mental illnesses. This is the same president who said after Charlottesville that there were very fine people on both sides, and who continues to fan the flames of hate and white supremacy. We cant trust his diagnosis.
We have a huge problem with guns. Assault weapons military-style firearms designed to fire rapidly are a threat to our national security, and we should treat them as such. Anyone who pretends theres nothing we can do is lying and holding that view should be disqualifying for anyone seeking to lead our country.
I know, because with Senator Dianne Feinstein I led the effort to enact the 1994 law that banned assault weapons and high-capacity magazines for 10 years. Those gun safety reforms made our nation demonstrably more secure.
They were also, sadly, the last meaningful gun legislation we were able get signed into law before the N.R.A. and the gun manufacturers put the Republican Party in a headlock.'>>>
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/11/opinion/joe-biden-ban-assault-weapons.html?
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
madville
(7,412 posts)All it did was ban cosmetic features like bayonet lugs, collapsible stocks, etc. High capacity magazines were still legal and easily available.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Thekaspervote
(32,793 posts)https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/08/04/brady-campaign-gun-control/13583365/
Also, if you care to give thru this it gives stats of just how many millions of gun purchases were denied
https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbse&sid=13
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
madville
(7,412 posts)I was talking about the Assault Weapons Ban (that didn't actually ban any weapons, just their cosmetic features).
You are talking about the Brady Bill for some reason, which mandated background checks and some other unrelated firearms changes like waiting periods.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
emmaverybo
(8,144 posts)passed in California after a work-place massacre, endorsed it. By the way, during the California ban being in effect, no comparable incident to that mass slaughter.
Although Republicans refused to entertain any gun regulation under Obama, he entrusted Biden with handling gun control.
This is an issue in Bidens wheel house. Whether you like it or not, many Americans do listen to Biden because they know about his past involvement in gun control, and he is one of the authoritative voices respected in contemporary political discussion.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
madville
(7,412 posts)She never could answer questions about the details of any of the legislation or anything about the firearms it was directed at. Most that endorse these bills don't understand them, very few people from either end of the political spectrum can describe what the Assault Weapons Ban actually did (which was very little). Simple question, what did it actually ban?
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
emmaverybo
(8,144 posts)Snip-
The 1994 law included a ban on 18 specific models of assault weapons, as well as a ban on any firearms containing certain military-style features, like a bayonet mount, a flash suppressor or a folding stock. It also banned high-capacity magazines capable of holding more than 10 bullets. The bill allowed individuals already in possession of such weapons to keep them. It was also set to expire after 10 years' time.
The original intent of the assault weapons ban was to reduce the carnage of mass shootings, Klarevas said. And on that front the data indicate that it worked.
Klarevas has compiled data on gun massacres involving six or more fatalities for the 50 years before 2016. His numbers show that gun massacres fell significantly during the time the assault weapons ban was in place, and skyrocketed after the ban lapsed in 2004. A separate mass shooting database compiled by Mother Jones magazine shows a similar trend.
Klarevas wasn't surprised by the 2004 report showing the ban had little effect on overall rates of gun crime. If there was going to be any benefit on [overall] violent crime, that would have been a pleasant surprise, he said. But, the real objective of the assault weapons ban was always to reduce both the frequency and lethality of mass shootings.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/02/22/the-real-reason-congress-banned-assault-weapons-in-1994-and-why-it-worked/
Snip-
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
madville
(7,412 posts)Prevent mass shootings? My point is that everything available before the ban was still available during the ban, it just looked cosmetically different. And banning firearms by name was futile because they changed the names of those firearms during the "ban". Tens of millions of high capacity magazines were also still for sale during the ban, the cost just increased.
If they do another ban one day it actually needs to ban something is my point.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
IronLionZion
(45,528 posts)not overall gun homicides of course, but mass shootings specifically.
Changes in US mass shooting deaths associated with the 19942004 federal assault weapons ban: Analysis of open-source data
CONCLUSION
Mass-shooting related homicides in the United States were reduced during the years of the federal assault weapons ban of 1994 to 2004.
Provisions:
Definition of semi-automatic weapon
Under the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, the definition of "semiautomatic weapon" included specific semi-automatic firearm models by name, and other semi-automatic firearms that possessed two or more from a set certain features:
Semi-automatic rifles able to accept detachable magazines and two or more of the following:
Folding or telescoping stock
Pistol grip
Bayonet mount
Flash hider or threaded barrel designed to accommodate one
Grenade launcher
Semi-automatic pistols with detachable magazines and two or more of the following:
Magazine that attaches outside the pistol grip
Threaded barrel to attach barrel extender, flash suppressor, handgrip, or suppressor
Barrel shroud safety feature that prevents burns to the operator
Unloaded weight of 50 oz (1.4 kg) or more
A semi-automatic version of a fully automatic firearm.
Semi-automatic shotguns with two or more of the following:
Folding or telescoping stock
Pistol grip
Detachable magazine.
That's after the NRA lobbyists weakened the law considerably with loopholes. It's true that many mass shooting weapons were not banned under the law as a result. These laws need to be written better without NRA influence weakening it. There must be some liberal law enforcement experts who could help our lawmakers with this language.
This is particularly disturbing:
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Thekaspervote
(32,793 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
emmaverybo
(8,144 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
onetexan
(13,058 posts)Strip it of its nonprofit status then brand it as a domestic terrorist org condoning and profiting from violence. Kneecapping this org and creating legislation to severely curtail gun ownership by civilians is the best way to thwart the gun industry.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Quixote1818
(28,968 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
SunSeeker
(51,698 posts)It shows he has confidence and courage. And it's certainly a position I applaud.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Cha
(297,655 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden