In the wake of the mass school house shooting in Connecticut there are proposals to ban assault weapons, but what are law experts saying about our Second Amendment rights Speaking of assault weapons what exactly constitutes as one
It can be confusing. However, before Americans talk about efforts to renew a ban on them we have to first be clear on what they are.
The schoolhouse shooting in Connecticut, which killed 20 young children and six adults, was what some people called a tipping point.
The incident has spurred discussion on renewing the ban on assault weapons which expired in 2004.
“The only thing that is going to prevent the massacre is to enact gun laws that control those types of weapons and do not allow everybody to own those types of weapons,” said Angie LaNier, a former Jackson County District Attorney.
They’re classified as semi-automatic guns with features similar to automatic military-style weapons but are not to be confused with an automatic gun which shoots continuously when the trigger is held down.
Automatics have been banned in the US since 1934, with the exception of a permit.
“There is absolutely no purpose in owning a weapon like that except to kill people,” said LaNier.
Semi-automatic assault weapons still require pulling a trigger for each bullet.
However, it’s the features that can be added on like flash hiders, threaded barrels for attaching silencers and large capacity magazines (LCMs) which can hold more bullets than a standard clip. LCMs which hold as many as 30 or 50 rounds can be easily bought. Other magazines can hold up to 100 bullets. Some experts say that’s what makes assault weapons more dangerous.
“If the shooter in Connecticut had not had a clip with so many bullets in it, he would never have been able to have killed so many children,” said LaNier.
She said banning assault weapons would not step on Second Amendment rights.
“The Second Amendment gives us the right to maintain a militia,” she began.
“We maintain a militia and we have the right to bear arms but it doesn’t anywhere in the Second Amendment give the right to bear all types of arms,” continued LaNier.
She said if a ban were to be re-instated, people would still be able to own pistols, rifles, and shotguns.
As for Representative Dennis Richardson’s latest proposal to arm trained teachers with guns, LaNier said one gun with a handful of bullets would likely not stand a chance against large capacity magazines and the assault weapons that can work with them.
Meantime, the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary is spurring debate in the nation’s capitol.
Republican politicians against an assault weapons ban said the bigger question is how deranged or irrational people get a hold of the guns themselves.
While some Republican lawmakers in Washington D.C. are sticking to their guns, others who have been against gun control legislation before, have said they will consider new gun regulations, so long as the dialogue also involves mental health and school safety.
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