Assault weapons are protected under the second ammendment

In the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting a lot of politicians are setting their sights on the guns of law-abiding citizens. Their logic is simple enough: if there are no guns, then there can be no more school shootings. Right?

The problem is that their logic is too simple and their view on the subject too myopic. Besides being unconstitutional, it's unreasonable to criminalize everything that can be used to hurt somebody.

The push to limit capacity . . .

Much of the rhetoric behind the push for a ban on semi-automatic rifles is based on the idea that hunters don't need magazines that hold more than ten rounds. It is unclear who, if anybody, claims credit for coming to a conclusion that on its face appears to be based on an arbitrary number. More importantly this bit of rhetoric implies that guns have just one purpose--hunting. Guns can be used for sport, protection and, according to the Constitution of the United States, for the prevention of tyranny and protection of liberty and freedom.

Why ten rounds? Ten is a nice round number that people unfamiliar with guns will think is reasonable. After seeing enough movie shootouts it is easy to believe that no attacker could survive a barrage of ten bullets, but police were unable to kill Margie Carranza and her 71-year-old mother after riddling their pickup truck with more than one hundred bullets. If trained professionals can't kill unarmed women with more than one hundred bullets, what chance does a civilian with just ten bullets have against actual bad guys?

The push to limit features . . .

Diane Feinstein is famous for her desire to criminalize all weapons. Nobody agreed with her, but she managed to convince other politicians that Americans wanted some guns criminalized in addition to those already banned in 1934 and pushed successfully for an assault weapons ban in 1994. As a result, guns that are used in less than 5% of gun crimes were banned.

The assault weapons ban was so unpopular with the American people and so unsuccessful that it was not renewed when it expired in 2004. Violent crime was already on the decline in 1994 and continued to decline in the years following the sunset of the weapons ban in 2004 even to today.

Many politicians, when faced with the idea of infringing the rights of Americans by enacting laws that are ineffective and unconstitutional will balk and push back. Sometimes these patriots are incorrectly labeled as cowards by other politicians who, in the true fashion of a dirty politician, will try to win arguments by name-calling instead of with reason and rational thought.

In summary

We the people do not want to be disarmed. Criminalizing weapons used by law-abiding citizens does not prevent the actions of the deranged.

A personal note to Dianne Feinstein from Benjamin Franklin:

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.