It has become a talking point on the anti-gun left to claim that while “assault weapon” bans don’t reduce gun-related crime, they do reduce the frequency and fatality of mass murders.
Virginia State Senator Mark Levine, for example, in a word vomit salad of uninformed opinions, claimed that the 1994 “assault weapons” ban was “very successful” in stopping mass murders. He used that supposed fact to support his own ban that would eventually fail in the Virginia Senate.
A new study has given the lie to even that defense. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has found that bans on semi-automatic firearms commonly referred to as “assault weapons” have no effect on fatal mass murders.
It’s buried at the bottom of the press release, but it’s there: “the study did not find an independent association between assault weapon bans and the incidence of fatal mass shootings after controlling for the effects of bans on large-capacity magazines.”
SEE ALSO: Everytown Distances Bloomberg Comments But Addicted to His Billions
The study also undercuts the push to ban the private transfer of firearms. It found no connection between a reduction in mass murders and comprehensive background check laws that do not also include a licensing requirement.
The study also did not find significant associations between mass murders and concealed carry laws or firearm prohibitions for violent misdemeanor convictions and domestic violence restraining orders.
Researchers claim that bans on magazines holding more than 10 rounds as well as gun owner licensing requirements do play a role in reducing mass murders.
The study analyzed 604 fatal mass murders in 45 states between 1984 and 2017. It found that bans on “large-capacity” magazines were associated with a “significant reduction” in the rate of fatal mass shootings with four or more fatalities and the number killed in those shootings.
SEE ALSO: Bloomberg’s $10M Super Bowl Ad Focuses on Top Priority: Gun Control
It also supposedly found a 56 percent reduction in mass shootings in states that require prospective gun owners to apply in person for a license to own a firearm using some type of fingerprint identification. Nine states—Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina—and the District of Columbia currently have some form of firearm purchaser or owner licensing laws.
The press release does not describe the method by which researchers reached any of their conclusions.
Multiple studies have found no significant connection between bans on “assault weapons” and homicide rates. A 2019 Journal of the American Medical Association study found such bans were not “significantly associated with overall homicide rates,” and a 2017 Journal of General Internal Medicine study found that laws targeting military-style assault weapons were not associated with changes in firearm homicide rates.
There’s a summary of the complete study in April ’20 Research Briefs at Criminal Justice Access, as well as another research summary on the variations between how mass shootings are counted. Link at https://criminaljusticeaccess.com/category/research-briefs/
Despite Bloomberg’s well documented opposition to 2nd amendment rights, he’s the only current Democratic candidate who stands a chance in the general election. Since any competent American who is NOT on the Kremlin’s payroll would be an improvement compared to the soviet stooge who is our current POTUS… BLOOMBERG 2020 Y’all!!!
Not a “Forever Trumper” by any means, BUT there isn’t a Dimocrap running that I would vote for. Period. They’re all gun-haters that know nothing about guns. One is a (former) Communist turned Democratic Socialist – that’s NOT a thing by the way. One lied about being part American-Indian for personal gain. One who’s never run anything but a fairly small town. Then there’s YOUR billionaire – hell, he can’t even decide if he’s a Republican, Dimocrap or Independent, but he knows what’s best about everything for everyone. Mister “No sodas over 20 ounces” until SCOTUS spanked his ass. Mister “Stop + Frisk Worked”. No, wait, it was racist. No thank you. The only one that WAS electable was Biden but he’s everything the libs hate. It looks like Sanders will be their comrade, I mean candidate. He’s NOT going to win, therefore another (4) years for Trump.
You can’t really be that stupid can you. Bloomberg wants you and your gun and your freedom. Wake up.
There has been NO evidence that Donald Trump is or was a “Russian Stooge.” The entire lie was dreamed up by Hillary Clinton and the Deep Staters in the FBI. You are obviously believing a lie.
The title is click bait. It was done by a school that was endowed by Bloomberg. He himself did not fund this particular study.
Another study came to same conclusion, 20 or so years ago.
Many people who have no knowledge of guns or of gun owners buy into the anti-freedom, gun confiscation propaganda about the evil guns. If they could be educated we could fix that situation. The more difficult problem to solve is the arrogant, power-hungry folks who know better but don’t think that common people deserve the right to self-defense or the other rights guaranteed by our constitution (like Bloomberg). I don’t think we can fix the self-righteous, arrogant folks. However, if we could fix our education system so they didn’t fill all the students with lies and ignorance, it would greatly reduce the impact of the liars. The problem there is that the vast majority of our education system is controlled by lefties who tend to agree with Bloomberg. This goes from kindergarten through post-grad school. The administrators, the professors, the teachers, those who control the teachers union, etcetera, are almost all leftist. Some of those controlling that system don’t know any better, having been through that same education system. Some are anti-American, anti-freedom folks like Bloomberg. The U.S. is now ranked 37th internationally in education. This is largely because the students are indoctrinated in leftest ideals, socialism, political correctness and such while subjects like math, English language, science, history, ethics, logic and other subjects necessary to become a successful adult are ignored. For example they teach that Hitler and the NAZI’s were evil but they don’t teach that Hitler was the leader of the German socialist party and they don’t teach that NAZI is short for The German National Socialist Workers’ Party.
I agree. I’m on twitter and I was on moms demand action page to dispute their claims. I had people that were truly interested in my facts. I pointed out that MDA article headings didn’t match the content and they pushed the headings on Twitter. I was promptly banned. I never argued, swore, or was rude to anyone.
None of these gun bans have anything to do with stopping mass shootings. They’re about taking guns from the population so there is no means to stop the tyrants in office from instituting their cradle to the grave agenda.
I’m curious, when some one like Bloomberg or Soros, Bezos want to spend billions effecting citizens rights, freedoms, why? whats the end goal? It would appear there are only a few real problems, guns , global warming, race, is that right?
How much truthful information is actually missing from the article? In the paragraph relating to the states requiring licensing or some kind of approval for a gun sale, California is one of the worst, and hardest to buy firearms, and now you have to pass a Federal background check to even buy ammunition, including for sheet shooting where the ammo is used for nothing except breaking clay targets, and snake shot for outdoor protection from rattlers!
“Bloomberg-Funded Study Finds that ‘Assault Weapon’ Bans Don’t Stop Mass Shootings”
Doesn’t matter.
First, Leftist ideology and the Loftiest agenda are based on lies, misinformation, and deception. The Left’s greatest enemies are truth, facts, and reality.
Second, gun control is not now and has never been about crime or criminals. It is about disarming the citizenry so there will be no threat to the government once the Left creates the dictatorship they have been working toward for more than half a century.
You know if Bloomy wins the nomination he will have to forgo his private security for Secret Service.
The man has a pathological fear of armed people.
Prior to the “No Gun Zone” law passed in 1990, public schools could have gun clubs, teach firearm safety, vehicles could contain firearms, teachers could self arm and we had no school mass shooting problems. All that changed when this law was passed. This No Gun Zone law “enabled and guaranteed a successful mass shooting every time” by making everyone in the public school system absolutely defenseless. This law also guarantees the shooters’ safety since they alone have weapons! Politicians passed this law and created the school mass shootings by removing all safeguards protecting the children. This law doesn’t apply to private schools which have their own armed security. There have been no mass shootings at private schools in the same 30 year time period (1990 to 2020). Repeal this “common sense” law and allow armed security back into the public schools to stop these mass shootings. Anti-gun zealots and fanatics would like you to forget that for the previous 200+ years the mere possibility of armed resistance to a shooter was an effective deterrence.
Agree, we need to remove the soft targets that our schools are. Let’s not forget removing God from our schools also plays a part. In locations where God is not welcomed, evil resides.
Both comments make way too much sense for the lefties. They can’t see the forrest for the trees.