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After the horrific Midtown Manhattan capturing that left 4 lifeless—together with NYPD Officer Didarul Islam—New York’s political class wasted no time demanding a nationwide “assault weapons” ban.
Governor Kathy Hochul declared:
“The killer used an AR-15–model assault rifle … Congress should summon the braveness to lastly move a nationwide assault weapons ban.”
Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani echoed the decision, claiming New Yorkers “are solely as secure because the weakest legal guidelines within the nation.”
However right here’s the reality that by no means makes the night information: rifles just like the AR-15 are concerned in a tiny fraction of gun murders in the USA.
In accordance with FBI information analyzed by Pew Analysis, rifles—all rifles mixed, together with the so-called “assault weapons”—accounted for simply 4% of gun murders in 2023. Handguns, if we wish to play that recreation, are the “actual driver” of firearm homicides, concerned in 53% of murders. Shotguns have been concerned in 1%, and a whopping 42% of instances concerned “different or unspecified” firearms—not AR-15s.
In different phrases, politicians are screaming a few weapon that’s not often utilized in crime whereas ignoring that the majority gun-related violence is dedicated with different firearms— or illegally possessed weapons within the first place.
Bans Don’t Cease Evil—Criminals Adapt
Even when each AR-15 vanished tomorrow, a killer like 27-year-old Shane Devon Tamura might have achieved the identical carnage with a handgun, shotgun, knife, or perhaps a car.
Historical past exhibits us criminals adapt. They at all times have.
Mass shootings, whereas tragic and high-profile, account for a tiny fraction of annual gun murders—722 deaths in 2023 by Gun Violence Archive’s overly broad definition, in comparison with almost 18,000 complete gun murders.
But politicians like Hochul and Mamdani deal with banning the most well-liked rifle in America, utilized by tens of millions for residence protection, competitors, and looking. That’s a gun-control speaking level, not an actual answer.
Each time a prison commits an atrocity, law-abiding gun house owners get blamed.
New York already has an AR-15 ban, crimson flag legal guidelines, and strict storage guidelines—and none of it stopped this assault.
As a substitute of asking why these “robust” legal guidelines failed to guard Officer Islam and different victims, anti-gun politicians demand that the remainder of America surrender its rights.
The fact? Banning rifles gained’t cease killers. Empowering residents and holding criminals accountable will.
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