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Gun Violence

- Senator Dianne Feinstein has introduced a ban on 157 assault weapons and limiting other weapons to only 2 military-style features. The ban would also require background checks and prohibit the sale of high-capacity magazines. - Supporters argue the ban would reduce gun violence, but gun rights groups disagree, arguing that people could substitute other weapons or change magazines quickly. - Research showed a decrease in assault weapons crimes when the previous ban was in place from 1994-2004, but gun rights advocates say the new ban would violate the recent Heller Supreme Court decision protecting gun ownership.

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46 views

Gun Violence

- Senator Dianne Feinstein has introduced a ban on 157 assault weapons and limiting other weapons to only 2 military-style features. The ban would also require background checks and prohibit the sale of high-capacity magazines. - Supporters argue the ban would reduce gun violence, but gun rights groups disagree, arguing that people could substitute other weapons or change magazines quickly. - Research showed a decrease in assault weapons crimes when the previous ban was in place from 1994-2004, but gun rights advocates say the new ban would violate the recent Heller Supreme Court decision protecting gun ownership.

Uploaded by

Slopez159
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Would a ban on assault weapons reduce gun violence?

Senator Dianne Feinstein has introduced a ban on 157 weapons, and would reduce the number of military features down to 2. Weapons capable of holding 10 rounds or more would be prohibited. Supporters argue the ban would also require purchasers to undergo background checks, and prohibit the sale of grandfathered large capacity magazines. Gun rights groups argue that the bill wouldnt reduce gun violence. They argue that there would simply be weapon substitutions, because a shotgun can do just as much damage as an assault weapon. They also argue that the ban on large capacity magazines wouldnt reduce gun violence, because someone could simply use many smaller magazines, which only take 3 seconds to change. Supports of the ban show that the percentage of crime of assault weapons decreased by a third when the FAW ban of 1994 was in affect. Gun rights advocates also argue that Feinsteins law would contradict the ruling of the U.S. Supreme court case District of Columbia v. Heller, where they struck down the Districts handgun ban. Heller argued that the guns are common use by law-abiding citizens, and are protected under the Second Amendment. Supporters of the ban such as Adam Winkler, law professor at UCLA School of Law, say that the Supreme Court could interpret the common use to only apply when its needed for self-defense. Meaning the firearms banned under Feinsteins bill are not self defense weapons. The piece of information that stood out the most to me was the bar graph on Public Backs Most Gun-Control Proposals. This bar graph depicts the amount of people in favor of certain gun control proposals, such as background checks, preventing the mentally ill from purchasing guns, and armed security guards/police in more schools. Hard facts and data analysis are the piece of information that always stand out to me because they show the truth in numbers and pictures I can see. Other arguments tend to rely on personal opinion and experience. Although those arguments can get a point across they tend to not persuade me when I can see factual evidence from various private and public research institutions. Garen Wintemute, director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California Davis Medical Center, showed research based finding showing that in 2012 there will be more firearm related homicides and suicides than motor vehicle traffic fatalities. This type of research finding show the truth behind gun violence, and those we need to take immediate action, because doing something will save someones life. When you compare these facts to opinion arguments from gun rights groups such as the NRA who simply say things like bans have no impact on lowering crime, without providing evidence of that then there is no way to validate their response. They simply care about their own self-interest and those of their followers, as research based finding show the truth to benefit everyone. I pledge that this work was completed with academic integrity.

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