A November 2012 Congressional Research Service report found that, as of 2009, there were approximately 310 million firearms in the United States, 110 million being rifles. (Peters) So what exactly makes a rifle an assault rifle or assault gun magazine? An Assault Weapon is most commonly defined as a semi automatic firearm possessing certain cosmetic features. Most assault rifles such as an AR-15 fires a 5.56mm round. The bullet tends not to penetrate walls in close quarters shooting and can lead to an injury of anyone or anything that is your intended target. And an assault magazine is a magazine that holds 10 rounds or more. These military grade weapons are used across our country whether it is for home protection, outdoor activities, such as hunting, or survival. Recently, congress has been trying to renew the Federal Assault Weapons Ban. Should the federal government ban the use, sale, and production of all assault rifles in the United States? Who are we affecting by doing so?
Assault weapons are important for Americans to possess and I think we should have every right to own one. Although the country has some form of gun control, illegal guns are still flooding our streets. Criminals still use high powered weapons that the average person like your or I cannot obtain. An Assault weapons ban would eliminate the purchase of assault rifles and the ability to own a magazine holding more than 10 rounds. “The assault weapons ban can have only a limited effect on total gun murders, because the banned weapons and magazines were never involved in more than a modest fraction of all gun murders.” (Jeffery A. Roth) Taking away assault rifles is not the answer to our problem because only they are only accountable for a small amount of gun-related crimes. Such limitations are only hurting the law-abiding citizens who use these weapons for the comfort of protection, hunting, or sport. No matter what laws are put into place, criminals will always
Cited: FBI. Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report in the US 2012. January to June 2012.<www.fbi.gov>. Feinstein, Dianne. Assault Weapon Ban of 2013. 2013d. <www.feinstein.senate.gov>. Roth, Jeffery, Christopher S. Koper,William Adams. Impact evaluation of the Public Safty and Recreational Firearm Use Protection Act of 1994. 13 March 1997. <www.urban.org/publications/406797.html>. Peters, Justin. How many Assault Weapons Are in America? 20 December 2012. <www.slate.com/blogs/crime>.