6 Out Of 10 Americans Support A Ban On Assault Weapons

It has been more than a year now since a man entered an elementary school in Newtown (Connecticut) and killed twenty 6 and 7 year olds (along with six teachers) with an assault-style weapon. And to this date, the U.S. Congress has done nothing to prevent it from happening again. They didn't even pass a bill to close the loopholes in the law that forces a background check on gun buyers -- in spite of the fact that poll after poll showed that around 90% of Americans would favor closing those loopholes.

Fixing the background check law wouldn't have prevented Newtown (since the offender got the assault-style weapon from his mother, who could have passed a background check). But there is another law that probably could have prevented it -- a ban on the sale and transfer of assault-style weapons.

The United States once had a ban on these type of weapons -- a ban supported even by Republican icon Ronald Reagan. That ban was in effect from September of 1994 through September of 2004 (when it died due to a sunset provision in the original law). Since then there have been several attempts to re-establish that ban on assault-style weapons, but each time it has been killed by Republicans and blue dog Democrats -- politicians who fear the wrath of the NRA.

The NRA opposes any gun laws at all, including reasonable measures like a background check that would keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the dangerously mentally ill and a ban on assault-style weapons. Sadly, too many in Congress would rather keep the NRA happy (and their campaign funds flowing) than reduce the number of gun deaths in the country, and in particular, the number of mass shootings done with assault-style weapons (weapons that have no purpose except to kill large numbers of humans in a short period of time).

But a substantial majority of Americans have better sense that the majority of elected officials in Congress. This is verified by a recent Rasmussen Poll (conducted on December 29th and 30th of 1,000 likely voters, with a margin of error of 3 points). That poll shows that 59% (or about 6 out of 10) of Americans would support a ban on semi-automatic or assault-style weapons.

It is absurd that this country allows the manufacture, sale and possession of these assault-style weapons. These weapons are useless for anything except military purposes, and should not be allowed to be bought and possessed by anyone with the money to buy one. They should once again be banned -- and the idiotic politicians who refuse to vote for that ban should be voted out of office (regardless of which party they are in).