{"id":48681,"date":"2015-12-02T10:32:50","date_gmt":"2015-12-02T15:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/blog\/?p=48681"},"modified":"2015-12-02T10:32:50","modified_gmt":"2023-08-19T04:43:49","slug":"obama-calls-for-gun-ban-weapons-of-war-dont-belong-on-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/obama-calls-for-gun-ban-weapons-of-war-dont-belong-on-streets\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama Calls for Gun Ban: Weapons of War Don\u2019t Belong on Streets"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the wake of a shooting at a Planned Parenthood center in Colorado, president Barack Hussein Obama called yet again for gun bans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not normal. We can\u2019t let it become normal. If we truly care about this — if we\u2019re going to offer up our thoughts and prayers again, for God knows how many times, with a truly clean conscience — then we have to do something about the easy accessibility of weapons of war on our streets to people who have no business wielding them. Period. Enough is enough,\u201d said Obama.<\/p>\n

At the time of writing this, the type of gun the crazed shooter Robert Dear used in the attack was not made public, though authorities said it was a \u201clong gun,\u201d which means it could have been any number of firearms: hunting rifle, shotgun, modern sporting rifle, etc. Nevertheless, Obama referred to it both as a \u201cweapon of war\u201d and an \u201cassault weapon\u201d in his statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWeapon of war\u201d and \u201cassault weapon,\u201d ah yes, the hallmark language of the anti-gunner. We\u2019ve heard these words uttered a million times before from Obama, the Clintons, Feinstein, Bloomberg, Schumer, you know, the usual suspects. It\u2019s important to recognize what they\u2019re doing when they use them. They\u2019re lying \u2014 or at the very least they\u2019re misleading the non-gun owning public in an attempt to dupe them into supporting unconstitutional gun bans.<\/p>\n

An \u201cassault weapon\u201d is a made-up term by anti-gunners that perverts the traditional definition of \u201cassault rifle,\u201d a rifle with select fire or full auto capabilities. By \u201cassault weapon,\u201d the gun grabbers are typically referring to a semiautomatic rifle with a detachable magazine that has one or more of the following features: barrel shroud, pistol grip, collapsable stock, forward grip, among others. As we know, these \u2014 as the industry calls them \u2014 \u201cmodern sporting rifles\u201d are widely popular and commonly owned. Despite the menacing name, \u201cassault weapons\u201d are not evil or scary or more dangerous than any other traditional firearm that shares their caliber. And conventionally speaking, they\u2019re not \u201cweapons of war.\u201d<\/p>\n

A weapon of war is an assault rifle! Not an \u201cassault weapon,\u201d if you want to use the gun-grabber terminology. It is not a semi-automatic, modern sporting rifle. A weapon of war is an M16. Not an AR-15! When Obama says there is easy access to \u201cweapons of war\u201d he is lying. True weapons of war, which are intentionally designed for combat and have full auto capabilities, are heavily regulated by the National Firearms Act and prohibitively expensive. Consequently, most \u201cweapons of war\u201d available to the public end up in the hands of wealthy collectors. Weapons of war are not on the streets nor are they easy to get. That\u2019s the reality.<\/p>\n

There is another point to be made, though, about modern sporting rifles and how often they are used in the perpetration of a crime. While the White House narrative suggests these \u201cassault weapons\u201d are public enemy number one, the reality is that they are very rarely used in deadly shootings. In fact, rifles of any make or model are rarely used in to commit crimes. Here is what researcher John Lott Jr. had to say not only the frequency with which rifles are used in crimes but what happened to the murder rate following the expiration of the Clinton-era ban on \u201cmodern sporting rifles.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the Federal Assault Weapons Ban expired in September 2004, murder and overall violent-crime rates have fallen. In 2003, the last full year before the law expired, the U.S. murder rate was 5.7 per 100,000 people, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Report. By 2011, the murder rate fell to 4.7 per 100,000 people. One should also bear in mind that just 2.6% of all murders are committed using any type of rifle,\u201d wrote Lott in a Wall Street Journal article in 2013<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In other words, banning black rifles had no effect on the murder rate! What\u2019s more, the widespread availability of modern sporting rifles on the consumer market did not increase the murder rate! Given this empirical evidence, any reasonable individual would conclude that modern sporting rifles are not a threat to public safety. Moreover, modern sporting rifles are not the evil scary monster that Obama and his gun-control cohorts make them out to be.<\/p>\n

So, what we have on our hands is a president that is lying to us. Obama is attempting to intimidate and mislead the public via his anti-gun rhetoric. He wants Joe public to believe that \u201cweapons of war\u201d are flooding the streets of American cities, and that crazy individuals have no problem obtaining them. He wants Joe public to believe that modern sporting rifles are a menace to society. He wants Joe public to believe that if we were to ban these rifles it would somehow make a difference. Sadly, and despite the fact that Obama is wrong on all accounts, his efforts are paying dividends.<\/p>\n

A 2014 Rasmussen poll <\/a>found that 59 percent of respondents favored a ban on \u201cassault weapons.\u201d That means that roughly six out of 10 Americans believe this \u201cassault weapons\u201d and \u201cweapons of war\u201d nonsense. It goes without saying, but we have to double down on our efforts to get the facts out there. We have to continue to educate and enlighten non-gun owners as to the lies that are coming out of Washington. If we don\u2019t, if we fail to teach folks that modern sporting rifles are purposefully designed for civilian use, then we will lose our right to keep and bear them. \u00a0Bottom line, if things don’t change, the gun-banners will win.<\/p>\n

Below is a list of facts that the National Shooting Sports Foundation <\/a>has assembled about modern sporting rifles. \u00a0It’s good to have this handy, especially when you know that you’re going to have an opportunity to preach the gospel of guns to a non-believer. Continue to spread the word. \u00a0Go forth and enlighten!<\/p>\n