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What About Machine Guns? Most TV commentators who decry assault weapons imply that they are automatic—that you just pull the trigger and bullets start flying. The offensive features included plastic stocks, extended ammunition clips, collapsible butt-stocks, and other decorative devices that made them look like, but not operate as, a fully functional assault rifle.Ĭontrary to the claims that military-looking weapons are only designed to kill human beings, they are, in fact, the fastest growing segment of the hunting rifle market! If accused killer James Holmes had been prevented from buying this gun, he could have found plenty of others that would have served his purpose just as well.īasically, what disqualified a weapon when the short-lived assault weapons ban was in effect was looking like a military weapon. The features that disqualified a gun under the federal ban were ones that didn’t affect destructiveness, such as pistol grips and bayonet mounts. They don’t fire more rapidly, they don’t deliver more lethal rounds, and they don’t spray bullets. As Steve Chapman explained the other day: Assault weapons are functionally indistinguishable from ordinary semiautomatic hunting rifles.

Assault weapons are mainly defined by their appearance. What Are Assault Weapons? You would think that the definition would hinge on a weapon’s fire power or its capacity to maim or kill. Still, gun opponents seem obsessed about them. George Hennard, who killed 22 people at a Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, in 1991, used two ordinary pistols. James Huberty, who killed 20 people at a McDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro, California, in 1984, used a shotgun, a pistol and a hunting rifle. Neither of the two worst shooting sprees in U.S. Should We Be Especially Worried About Assault Weapons? Assault weapons are not usually the weapon of choice. Instead, the focus these days is on so-called “assault weapons.” Antigun activists and politicians almost never propose banning them.

Yet in most American cities, just about anybody can buy a shotgun at the drop of a hat. And unlike semiautomatics, they don’t typically jam. Twelve-gauge shotguns often fire five shells, and sometimes more, before needing to be reloaded. Every shotgun shell can spray a half-dozen or more pellets, each capable of killing or maiming a person. In a closed, crowded setting like a movie theater, the shotgun was probably the most lethal of the three. Let’s try to add some facts to the justified emotion.Īre Some Guns More Dangerous than Others? The shooter in Aurora had three firearms when he entered the theater: a pump action shotgun, a semiautomatic rifle and a semiautomatic handgun. The tragedy in Aurora, Colorado, has led to a lot of unfortunate misinformation about firearms. Single Issues of The Independent Review.International Economics and Development.