OPINION & EDITORIAL
LTE assault weapons
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Monday, September 13, 2004
Ryan Masse failed to uphold the standards of fair and impartial journalism when he wrote his article (“Countdown on for assault-weapons ban,” Sept. 10). It reads more like an editorial than a news report.
First of all, the article makes it seem like all police agencies across the country believe the ban reduced crime. Many major police departments have stated on the record that the ban has done nothing to reduce violent crime. From the police officers I know, most believe in the individual right to keep and bear arms.
The assault-weapons ban is nothing more than an ineffective, feel-good piece of legislation. Like the Patriot Act, those who support it have fooled those who don’t care enough to actually read it.
The AWB bans certain cosmetic features of rifles that in no way increase the lethality of the weapons themselves. For example, it prevents certain rifles manufactured after 1994 from having a bayonet mount. Like a knife on the end of a rifle really makes it more dangerous.
It is also just as easy to get these rifles in just as lethal of form (well, no bayonets though) as it was before the ban was passed. Look up AR-15 online sometime, and you will see, like any other firearm, they can be purchased for several hundred dollars by any law-abiding citizen.
It’s pretty obvious by simply reading the text of the ban that the things it prohibits could in no way contribute to a reduction of crime. However, those who support the ban have invested significant political capital into it, and to them, admitting they were wrong would be admitting defeat. Again, our politicians are thinking about themselves more than our Constitution, and the general good of the people.
Adrian Andrijasevic
andrijasevic@wisc.edu
