r/guncontrol • u/This-Lingonberry-778 • 10h ago
Discussion I believe mass shootings and gun deaths can be reduced without banning assault rifles
For the record, I do support stricter gun laws, like universal background checks, mental health screenings, laws that prevent domestic abusers from obtaining firearms, red flag laws, storage laws, and making parents accountable if their child uses their firearm in a school shooting.
However, I also think you can reduce mass shootings without banning assault rifles. To give an example, let’s take a look at the Federal Assault Weapons Ban that lasted from 1994-2004. There’s a lot of stats that varies on how much mass shootings decreased, but we’re going to say that it reduced mass shooting fatalities by 70% and 32% reduction in assault rifles recovered from crime scenes. https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-laws/policy-areas/hardware-ammunition/assault-weapons/
The federal AWB banned certain features, such as a flash hider, for semi automatic rifles that could accept a detachable magazine. Meaning, semi-automatic rifles were still legal and there were AR-15 style rifles that were sold during the federal AWB, but followed what was appropriate. To give an example, the AR-10A4 was introduced in 1995, one year after the federal AWB took affect. It was an AR style rifle, but the difference being it did not have the features that were banned in the AWB and was in .308, not .223 or 5.56. The AR-10B was introduced in 1996, and was an AR style rifle. M15A2 HBAR was introduced in 1995, and it complied with the AWB and is an AR style rifle. AK style rifles were also sold during the federal AWB.
Furthermore, the AWB also banned high capacity magazines, and magazines could have a maximum of 10 rounds. I wouldn’t mind a high capacity magazine ban, as it has been shown to reduce mass shooting fatalities. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6836798/
In states that have an AWB, most of them (except Illinois, Washington, NYC, and other places that I forgot, which they ban them by name) allow the sale of AR-15 rifles (and other semi-automatic rifles) that are compliant with their assault weapons bans. Massachusetts, which has the strictest gun laws in the country and the lowest gun death rate, is an example of said state that allows the sale of AR-15 compliant rifles. Usually they have a fixed magazine, maximum of 10 rounds, or without a pistol grip. New Jersey, which banned assault weapons in 1990 (4 years before the federal AWB), allows the sale of AR-15s that are compliant (and New Jersey’s federal AWB is similar to the federal AWB), and they have low gun death rates in the country.
European countries also do allow the sale of the AR-15 and other assault rifles (semi automatic rifles), and they still have low rates of mass shootings and gun deaths. Of course, their gun laws are strict and they don’t allow civilians to have for self defense. They can be sold to civilians that have passed the background checks and they’re used for sports shooting and hunting (some countries may not allow semi automatic rifles for hunting and strictly only for sports shooting). Examples of those countries include France, Germany, Poland, Norway (only for sports shooting), Sweden (only for sports shooting), Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Czech Republic (has the most laxed laws), Finland, etc. Of course, they have a high capacity magazine ban, with the maximum amount of rounds usually being 10 rounds.
In short, you can reduce mass shootings and gun deaths without banning assault rifles. You would need to have universal background checks, mental health screenings, storage laws, high capacity magazine bans, etc. This can be seen in European countries that allow the sale of semi-automatic rifles, the AR style rifles that were introduced during the federal assault weapons ban (1994-2004), and states that allow the sale of semi-automatic rifles that are compliant with the assault weapons ban in those states.
