Curator Note: The egregious or “over the top” distortion of the results of factual studies and reports continues to be a serious problem in contemporary American politics. In this instance, the gun advocates and NRA constantly quote this report that the 1994 assault rifle ban did little to save lives. However the legislation was effective and the data shows that it had a significant impact on mass shootings. There are over 33,000 gun deaths in the country annually, a significant number of those are suicides and most often there is no assault rifle involved. However for the small portion of deaths that occur as a result of mass shootings — the one that tear at the fabric of our culture and horrify most of us — assault rifles are often used. All of us should take note — you have to consider the source of the information. if an organization, or person, or party has a history of lying and distorting fact, it is both likely and probable that they are distorting again.
Last week’s horrific massacre of 14 students and three staff members in Parkland, Fla., has reinvigorated the national debate over assault weapons. A Quinnipiac poll released Tuesday, for instance, found that 67 percent of Americans, including 53 percent of gun owners, say they favor such a ban — the highest level of support seen on this question since 20 children and six educators were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.
Critics of bans on assault weapons, however, say they do little to save lives. The NRA correctly points out that assault weapons are used only in a tiny fraction of gun crimes. The gun rights group also notes that a federally funded study of the previous assault weapons ban, which was in place from 1994 to 2004, concluded that “the ban’s impact on gun violence is likely to be small at best, and perhaps too small for reliable measurement.” Similar points have been made in arguments against a new ban in publications running the ideological gamut from Breitbart to the New York Times to the HuffPost.
