{"id":1517141,"date":"2022-06-15T12:34:09","date_gmt":"2022-06-15T16:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1517141"},"modified":"2022-06-15T12:35:52","modified_gmt":"2022-06-15T16:35:52","slug":"theres-no-objective-evidence-the-federal-assault-weapons-ban-saved-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/theres-no-objective-evidence-the-federal-assault-weapons-ban-saved-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"There&#039;s No Objective Evidence the Federal \u201cAssault Weapons\u201d Ban Saved Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftheres-no-objective-evidence-the-federal-assault-weapons-ban-saved-lives%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1517141&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p><span>By James D. Agresti<\/span><br \/><span>June 15, 2022<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the children we can save,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/speeches-remarks\/2022\/06\/02\/remarks-by-president-biden-on-gun-violence-in-america\/\">declared<\/a> President Biden on June 2, \u201cwe should reinstate the assault weapons ban and high-capacity magazines that we passed in 1994.\u201d To support this claim, Biden alleged:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>And in the 10 years it was law, mass shootings went down. But after Republicans let the law expire in 2004 and those weapons were allowed to be sold again, mass shootings tripled. Those are the facts.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In reality, Biden is confusing terms and distorting data to paint a picture that is opposed to the facts. Such facts include but are not limited to the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The number of people killed in mass shootings didn\u2019t decline even after the 1986 federal ban on automatic guns, which are more capable of mass murder than the guns Biden wants to ban.<\/li>\n<li>The terms \u201cassault weapons\u201d and \u201chigh-capacity magazines\u201d are misleading and refer to common weapons used by citizens for hunting and home defense.<\/li>\n<li>Before, during, and after the 1994 law cited by Biden, the portion of the U.S. population killed in mass shootings barely budged, and the slight changes are better explained by other factors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Automatic Firearms Have Been Banned Since 1986<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10410\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10410\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/catalog.archives.gov\/id\/6665996\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10410\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. Marine Corps Sergeant Eddie Hedgepeth looks through the scope of his 5.56mm M4 Carbine. Credit: U.S. Department of Defense<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Eight years before the \u201cassault weapons\u201d ban referenced by Biden, Congress <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/99th-congress\/senate-bill\/49?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Firearms+Owners%27+Protection+Act%22%2C%22Firearms%22%2C%22Owners%27%22%2C%22Protection%22%2C%22Act%22%5D%7D&#038;s=3&#038;r=1\">passed<\/a> and President Reagan signed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/99\/statute\/STATUTE-100\/STATUTE-100-Pg449.pdf\">1986 law<\/a> which made it unlawful for civilians to \u201ctransfer or possess a machinegun.\u201d Under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/26\/5845\">federal law<\/a>, the term \u201cmachinegun\u201d means \u201cany weapon\u201d that can fire \u201cmore than one shot\u201d with \u201ca single function of the trigger.\u201d Thus, the ban includes all types of automatic firearms, including machine guns, submachine guns, and assault rifles. These are the types of guns <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/guncontrol#definitions_automatic\">commonly used<\/a> by armed forces.<\/p>\n<p>The 1986 ban, which is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/cfr\/text\/27\/478.36\">still in effect<\/a>, has an exception for guns legally owned before the law was enacted, but because automatic firearms have been heavily regulated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atf.gov\/firearms\/docs\/guide\/atf-national-firearms-act-handbook-atf-p-53208\/download#page=13\">since 1934<\/a>, less than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atf.gov\/firearms\/docs\/undefined\/atf-national-firearms-act-handbook-chapter-3\/download\">4 million<\/a> are currently owned by civilians. The relative rarity and strict regulation of these weapons is highlighted by a 2016 U.S. Department of Justice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atf.gov\/file\/100896\/download\">study<\/a> which found \u201cno evidence that\u201d any owner of an automatic gun was convicted of using one to commit a crime from 2006 through 2014.<\/p>\n<p>The primary purpose of the 1986 law was to reduce mass shooting deaths by limiting the availability of weapons with rapid rates of fire. As explained in the book <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Military-Technology-Cool-Science-Fridell\/dp\/0822567695\">Military Technology<\/a><\/em>, \u201cA machine gunner\u2019s weapon fired hundreds of bullets each minute. He could point the weapon in the general direction of his enemy and fire. Even poorly-trained shooters could hit their targets. Automatic weapons made war a far more deadly business.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, the portion of the U.S. population killed in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/guncontrol#mass\">mass shootings<\/a> (defined in <a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1111\/1745-9133.12478\">academic literature<\/a> as those in which four or more people are killed), didn\u2019t decline in the wake of the law:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mass_portion-full.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10411\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mass_portion-full.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"979\" height=\"713\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mass_portion-full.png 979w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mass_portion-full-300x218-1.png 300w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mass_portion-full-768x559-1.png 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mass_portion-full-640x466-1.png 640w\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Semi-Automatic \u201cAssault Weapons\u201d Were Banned From 1994\u20132004<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10420\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10420\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.istockphoto.com\/photo\/ar-15-left-side-gm175624080-24490956\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10420 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/modern_rifle-full-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1198\" height=\"323\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/modern_rifle-full-2.jpg 1198w, https:\/\/www.justfactsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/modern_rifle-full-2-300x81.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/modern_rifle-full-2-1024x276-1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/modern_rifle-full-2-768x207-1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.justfactsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/modern_rifle-full-2-640x173.jpg 640w\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10420\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. Credit: istock\/Luevanos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Less than a decade after banning automatic weapons, Congress <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/103rd-congress\/house-bill\/3355\">passed<\/a> and President Clinton signed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/103\/statute\/STATUTE-108\/STATUTE-108-Pg1796.pdf#page=201\">1994 law<\/a> which made it illegal to \u201cmanufacture, transfer, or possess a semiautomatic assault weapon.\u201d These guns often look like military firearms and share <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/guncontrol#definitions_assault\">some characteristics<\/a> with them (like detachable magazines and pistol grips), but they lack their defining feature: the ability to fire multiple bullets with a single trigger pull.<\/p>\n<p>For that reason and the fact that these guns are used for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outdoorlife.com\/photos\/gallery\/guns\/rifles\/centerfire\/2011\/11\/20-best-semi-automatic-rifles-big-game-hunting\/\">hunting<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ballisticmag.com\/8-experts-pick-their-home-defense-weapon-of-choice\/#balf15-hdw-buffoni\">home defense<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nssf.org\/msr\/\">firearm specialists<\/a> typically don\u2019t call them \u201cassault weapons\u201d but describe them as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cmodern sporting rifles,\u201d<\/li>\n<li>by their make\/model (like \u201cAR-15\u201d), or<\/li>\n<li>with functional descriptors like \u201csemi-automatic rifle.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Nevertheless, the politicians who sponsored the 1994 law labeled these semi-automatic guns \u201cassault weapons.\u201d This term sounds very similar to \u201cassault rifles,\u201d which happen to be the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/guncontrol#definitions_automatic\">most common firearms<\/a> used by soldiers and terrorists.<\/p>\n<p>The lawmakers\u2019 decision to use those easily confused terms accords with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vpc.org\/studies\/awaconc.htm\">1988 booklet<\/a> written by Josh Sugarmann, the founder of a prominent gun control organization called the Violence Policy Center. In it, he wrote about the \u201cnew topic\u201d of \u201cassault weapons\u201d and laid out this strategy for banning them:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The weapons\u2019 menacing looks, coupled with the public\u2019s confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons\u2014anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun\u2014can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Many journalists have advanced this agenda by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/guncontrol#definitions_assault\">using<\/a> the term \u201cassault weapons\u201d to describe a broad range of semi-automatic guns. These include the most <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nssf.org\/articles\/nssf-releases-most-recent-firearm-production-figures\/\">commonly sold<\/a> rifles in America, more than 19.8 million of which are now in circulation.<\/p>\n<p>Numerous journalists and politicians have also conflated \u201cassault weapons\u201d with \u201cassault rifles\u201d by applying both of these terms to semi-automatic guns. This is chronicled in the nation\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/frontedgepublishing.com\/news-authors-editors-changes-in-associated-press-ap-stylebook\/\">leading authority<\/a> on journalism lingo, the <em>Associated Press Stylebook<\/em>. A decade ago, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Associated-Press-Stylebook-Briefing-Media\/dp\/0465021875\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&#038;qid=1466090669&#038;sr=8-1&#038;keywords=The+Associated+Press+Stylebook+and+Briefing+on+Media+Law+2011\">2011 <em>Stylebook<\/em><\/a> distinguished between \u201cassault weapons\u201d and \u201cassault rifles\u201d as follows:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>assault weapon:<\/strong> A semi-automatic firearm similar in appearance to a fully automatic firearm or military weapon. Not synonymous with assault rifle, which can be used in fully automatic mode.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This splitting of verbal hairs between semi-automatic \u201cassault weapons\u201d and military \u201cassault rifles\u201d led journalists to misuse these terms, but instead of fixing this confusion, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Associated-Press-Stylebook-Briefing-Media\/dp\/0465062946\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&#038;qid=1466090731&#038;sr=8-1&#038;keywords=The+Associated+Press+Stylebook+and+Briefing+on+Media+Law+2016\">2015 <em>Stylebook<\/em><\/a> made it worse. It did this by combining both terms into a single definition while stating that they \u201care often used interchangeably,\u201d but \u201csome\u201d journalists \u201cmake the distinction that <em>assault rifle <\/em>is a military weapon\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The use of similar and even identical terms to describe materially different weapons violates a basic principle of honest reporting stressed in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/guncontrol#jargon\">journalism guidebooks<\/a>: \u201cuse jargon only when necessary and define it carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Like the 1986 ban on automatic weapons, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/103\/statute\/STATUTE-108\/STATUTE-108-Pg1796.pdf#page=201\">1994 ban<\/a> on semi-automatic \u201cassault weapons\u201d had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/103\/statute\/STATUTE-108\/STATUTE-108-Pg1796.pdf#page=205\">an exception<\/a> for guns legally owned prior to the law\u2019s enactment. Unlike the 1986 ban, however, the 1994 ban was not permanent. That\u2019s because lawmakers included a provision that sunset the ban in 10 years as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/09\/07\/us\/politics\/congress-assault-weapons-ban.html\">compromise<\/a> to secure enough votes to pass it and to provide time to \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/103\/statute\/STATUTE-108\/STATUTE-108-Pg1796.pdf#page=205\">investigate and study<\/a>\u201d its \u201cimpact, if any, on violent and drug trafficking crime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The law <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/103\/statute\/STATUTE-108\/STATUTE-108-Pg1796.pdf#page=205\">required<\/a> the U.S. Attorney General to conduct and publish such a study within 30 months of the ban\u2019s enactment, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncjrs.gov\/txtfiles1\/173405.txt\">study<\/a> concluded that \u201cthe public safety benefits of the 1994 ban have not yet been demonstrated.\u201d A similar <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncjrs.gov\/pdffiles1\/nij\/grants\/204431.pdf\">study<\/a> funded by the U.S. Department of Justice was published in 2004, the year the law was due to expire. It found that the ban had:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>no discernible reduction in the lethality and injuriousness of gun violence, based on indicators like the percentage of gun crimes resulting in death or the share of gunfire incidents resulting in injury, as we might have expected had the ban reduced crimes with both AWs [assault weapons] and LCMs [large-capacity magazines].<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>On the other hand, the authors of the study noted that the effects of the law \u201care still unfolding and may not be fully felt for several years into the future,\u201d and so it is \u201cpremature to make definitive assessments of the ban\u2019s impact on gun violence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When the ban expired in 2004, various members of Congress <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/search?q=%7B%22congress%22%3A%5B%22108%22%5D%2C%22source%22%3A%5B%22legislation%22%5D%2C%22search%22%3A%22%5C%22assault+weapons%5C%22%22%7D\">sponsored bills<\/a> to renew it, but none of them passed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cHigh Capacity\u201d Magazines Were Banned From 1994\u20132004<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10412\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10412\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlantictactical.com\/magpul-mag546-blk-pmag-17-gl9-17-round-magazine-for-glock-17-handguns\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10412 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/magazines_17_30_rounds.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"685\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/magazines_17_30_rounds.png 1300w, https:\/\/www.justfactsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/magazines_17_30_rounds-300x158.png 300w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/magazines_17_30_rounds-1024x540-1.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/magazines_17_30_rounds-768x405-1.png 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/magazines_17_30_rounds-640x337-1.png 640w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/magazines_17_30_rounds-390x205-1.png 390w\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10412\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: 17-Round magazine for handgun. Credit: Magpul. Right: 30-Round magazine for rifle. Credit: istock\/zim286<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The same <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/103\/statute\/STATUTE-108\/STATUTE-108-Pg1796.pdf#page=203\">1994 law<\/a> which banned many semi-automatic guns until 2004 also banned \u201clarge capacity ammunition feeding devices\u201d for the same period. The most common of these devices are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/guncontrol#definitions_magazine\">detachable magazines<\/a> (or \u201cmags\u201d for short), which hold and feed ammunition into the vast bulk of semi-automatic guns.<\/p>\n<p>The politicians who wrote the law applied the term \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/guncontrol#mass_capacity\">high capacity<\/a>\u201d to mags that hold more than 10 rounds, even though these are standard on many popular <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsmans.com\/top-selling-guns-of-2021\/top-selling-handguns\/c\/cat141689\">handguns<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsmans.com\/top-selling-guns-of-2021\/top-selling-rifles\/c\/cat141688\">rifles<\/a>. For example, the stock magazine for a Glock 19, one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outdoorlife.com\/gear\/best-semi-automatic-handgun\/\">best-selling<\/a> handguns in the world, holds <a href=\"https:\/\/gen5.glock.us\/g19\/\">15 rounds<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, mags that hold more than 10 rounds are so common that more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nssf.org\/articles\/nssf-releases-most-recent-firearm-production-figures\/\">150 million<\/a> of them are currently in circulation in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>As a general rule, mags with more capacity are a tactical advantage because they allow the shooter to fire more bullets without reloading. However, a trained gunman can swap out a mag in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tc1Kg0os11k\">one second<\/a>. This allows mass shooters to effectively bypass the capacity restriction by bringing multiple mags to an attack. In contrast, it is not practical for the many millions of citizens who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/guncontrol#right-to-carry\">legally carry<\/a> concealed firearms to keep a stockpile of mags on their waist.<\/p>\n<p>Another tradeoff on mag size is that larger ones are <a href=\"https:\/\/wac.edgecastcdn.net\/001A39\/prod\/media\/fn7upu9h3FoXXgPsite\/FB5F8816155D5E0E2C6D25061917AED8.app1_1589393649659_L1000.jpeg\">bulkier<\/a>, which can make weapons less concealable and harder to maneuver. Also, very large mags tend to jam, like the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dispatch.com\/story\/news\/2012\/07\/23\/police-killer-s-gun-jammed\/23757820007\/\">100-round magazine<\/a> used by the perpetrator of the 2012 \u201cDark Knight\u201d movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What Happened in the Wake of the 1994 Law?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The 1994\u20132004 ban on certain semi-automatic guns and 10+ round mags correlates with a slight decline in the portion of the U.S. population <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/guncontrol#mass_assault\">killed in mass shootings<\/a>, but the association is weak, and there is no clear pattern:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mass_shootings_population_1986_2018.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10413\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mass_shootings_population_1986_2018.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"978\" height=\"713\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mass_shootings_population_1986_2018.png 978w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mass_shootings_population_1986_2018-300x219-1.png 300w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mass_shootings_population_1986_2018-768x560-1.png 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mass_shootings_population_1986_2018-640x467-1.png 640w\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, the ban did not begin until the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/103\/statute\/STATUTE-108\/STATUTE-108-Pg1796.pdf#page=205\">last 3.5 months<\/a> of 1994, and:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>production of these weapons in 1994 was <a href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1023\/A:1016055919939\">more than twice<\/a> that of a typical year because people rushed to buy them before the ban took effect.<\/li>\n<li>a 2002 paper in the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1023\/A:1016055919939\">Journal of Quantitative Criminology<\/a><\/em> found that the rush to buy these guns \u201cproduced the unintended consequence of making AWs more accessible\u201d through at least mid-1996.<\/li>\n<li>the portion of people killed in mass shootings was lower in 1996 than in six of the eight years that followed while the ban was in effect.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Most importantly, Biden\u2019s statement suffers from the sophomoric myth that\u00a0association proves causation. Students are taught to avoid this fallacy in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.corestandards.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Math_Standards.pdf#page=81\">high school<\/a>, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfactsdaily.com\/should-the-u-s-adopt-australias-strict-gun-laws\">reporters<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfactsdaily.com\/four-fabrications-about-firearms\">commentators<\/a>, and even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/immigration#crime_media\">scholars<\/a> often embrace it. In the words of an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldcat.org\/title\/introductory-econometrics-using-monte-carlo-simulation-with-microsoft-excel\/oclc\/94939267\">academic textbook<\/a> about analyzing data:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Association is not the same as causation. This issue is a persistent problem in empirical analysis in the social sciences. Often the investigator will plot two variables and use the tight relationship obtained to draw absolutely ridiculous or completely erroneous conclusions. Because we so often confuse association and causation, it is extremely easy to be convinced that a tight relationship between two variables means that one is causing the other. This is simply not true.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The reason why this is not true is because many other factors can affect events like mass shootings, and there is frequently no <a href=\"http:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/education.asp#introductory\">objective way<\/a> to isolate and quantify the effects of a single factor. With regard to the 1994 ban, just a few of the many factors that could have been at play during this era include the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The very same <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/103\/statute\/STATUTE-108\/STATUTE-108-Pg1796.pdf#page=21\">1994 law<\/a> that enacted the firearm and magazine restrictions also contained a massive array of measures to reduce violent crime, including incentives for states to increase \u201cthe percentage of convicted violent offenders sentenced to prison\u201d and increase \u201cthe average prison time which will be served in prison by convicted violent offenders.\u201d This is significant because the vast bulk of murders are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/guncontrol#crime_justice\">committed<\/a> by people with long rap sheets.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Wall-to-wall media coverage of mass shootings\u2014which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/0735648X.2017.1284689\">began<\/a> with the Columbine school massacre of 1999\u2014has since <a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=n3aYDwAAQBAJ&#038;pg=PT55&#038;lpg=PT55&#038;dq=%E2%80%9Ckillers+have+predicted+their+own+notoriety%E2%80%9D&#038;source=bl&#038;ots=w_37ojy5FU&#038;sig=ACfU3U3-fYZFfIBQUclPx271dRyPT2J6dw&#038;hl=en&#038;sa=X&#038;ved=2ahUKEwi0kqfltNjvAhVCCM0KHWB4AfMQ6AEwAHoECAIQAw#v=onepage&#038;q=%E2%80%9Ckillers%20have%20predicted%20their%20own%20notoriety%E2%80%9D&#038;f=false\">motivated many<\/a> copycat killers seeking fame. Notably, the infamous Columbine mass murder occurred in the midst of the 1994\u20132004 ban.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/guncontrol#mass\">Less than 1%<\/a> of all murders in the U.S. occur in mass shootings, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfactsdaily.com\/five-fallacies-about-guns-and-violence\">overall murder rate<\/a> fell by 39% during the years of the ban. Thus, the slight decline in mass shootings may be a consequence of the much larger decline in all murders. This is why the 2004 DOJ-funded <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncjrs.gov\/pdffiles1\/nij\/grants\/204431.pdf\">study<\/a> concluded that \u201cwe cannot clearly credit the ban with any of the nation\u2019s recent drop in gun violence.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Using the childish logic of Biden, one would be forced to conclude that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/guncontrol#right-to-carry\">right-to-carry<\/a> law enacted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/guncontrol#right-to-carry_florida\">Florida in 1987<\/a> is responsible for the massive drop in murder rates that occurred in its wake:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/florida_right_to_carry.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10414\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/florida_right_to_carry.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"984\" height=\"711\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/florida_right_to_carry.png 984w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/florida_right_to_carry-300x217-1.png 300w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/florida_right_to_carry-768x555-1.png 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/florida_right_to_carry-640x462-1.png 640w\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The chart above shows what a strong association looks like, but even still, one cannot draw definitive conclusions from it because a multitude of other factors could be at play.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Biden\u2019s &#038; PolitiFact\u2019s Phony Data<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As proven by the data above, Biden\u2019s claim that \u201cmass shootings tripled\u201d after the 1994\u20132004 ban has no basis in reality. However, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politifact.com\/factchecks\/2022\/may\/25\/joe-biden\/joe-biden-said-mass-shootings-tripled-when-assault\/\">PolitiFact article<\/a> by Jon Greenberg alleges it is \u201cmostly true.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>PolitiFact attempts to support this claim by citing a paper published in 2019 by the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/journals.lww.com\/jtrauma\/Fulltext\/2019\/01000\/Changes_in_US_mass_shooting_deaths_associated_with.2.aspx\">Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery<\/a><\/em>. The details of this study are hidden behind a $60 paywall, but there, the authors reveal that their count of mass shootings is \u201crestricted to incidents reported by all three\u201d of the following sources: \u201cMother Jones Magazine, the Los Angeles Times and Stanford University.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Using that methodology\u2014which relies on the absurd notion that all three of their sources have complete data stretching back for decades\u2014the study presents the following chart that shows zero mass shooting deaths in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002, and 2004:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mass-shooting_deaths_trauma_acute_care_surgery_2019-2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10431\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mass-shooting_deaths_trauma_acute_care_surgery_2019-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"597\" height=\"548\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mass-shooting_deaths_trauma_acute_care_surgery_2019-2.png 597w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/mass-shooting_deaths_trauma_acute_care_surgery_2019-2-300x275-1.png 300w\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In other words, the paper ignores numerous people killed in mass shootings during the period of the ban, pretending as if these events and many others never took place:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The 1995 Corpus Christi, TX workplace <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ksat.com\/news\/local\/2021\/09\/06\/april-3-1995-a-day-of-infamy-for-corpus-christi\/\">shooting<\/a>, where a gunman murdered five people.<\/li>\n<li>The 1996 Fort Lauderdale, FL workplace <a href=\"https:\/\/www.orlandosentinel.com\/news\/os-xpm-1996-02-10-9602100158-story.html\">shooting<\/a>, where a gunman murdered five of his former coworkers.<\/li>\n<li>The 1997 Orange, CA workplace <a href=\"https:\/\/behindthebadge.com\/orange-pd-officers-recall-deadly-caltrans-yard-shooting-20th-anniversary\/\">shooting<\/a>, where a gunman murdered four people.<\/li>\n<li>The 2001 Melrose Park, IL workplace <a href=\"https:\/\/products.kitsapsun.com\/archive\/2001\/02-06\/0048_melrose_park__ill___disgraced_ex-.html\">shooting<\/a>, where a gunman murdered four people.<\/li>\n<li>The 2002 Rutledge, AL farm <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsfa.com\/story\/3473973\/westley-harris-found-guilty\/\">shooting<\/a>, where a gunman murdered six members of his girlfriend\u2019s family.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Further illustrating the inanity of this study, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tc.columbia.edu\/faculty\/ljk2149\/\">Dr. Louis Klarevas<\/a> of Columbia University, a Ph.D. who specializes in mass-casualty violence, <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.lww.com\/jtrauma\/Citation\/2019\/05000\/Letter_to_the_editor_re__DiMaggio,_C__Et_al_.24.aspx\">skewered<\/a> the paper for having \u201ca large number of misclassifications.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yet, PolitiFact treats this deceitful data as if it were fact, and healthcare professionals are invited to be brainwashed by it because the <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.lww.com\/jtrauma\/Abstract\/2019\/01000\/Changes_in_US_mass_shooting_deaths_associated_with.2.aspx\">paper<\/a> is \u201cAccredited for Continuing Medical Education.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In his speech, Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/speeches-remarks\/2022\/06\/02\/remarks-by-president-biden-on-gun-violence-in-america\/\">declared<\/a> that his gun control strategy is part of \u201cmy Unity Agenda,\u201d but he betrayed this claim in the same speech by making a partisan plea for votes while attacking Republicans. If \u201cCongress fails\u201d to implement his agenda, said Biden, \u201cI believe the majority of you will act to turn your outrage into making this issue central to your vote.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Contrary to Biden\u2019s claim that his agenda would save lives:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>there is no association between the number of people killed in mass shootings and the 1986 ban on automatic guns.<\/li>\n<li>there is a weak association between the number of people killed in mass shootings and the 1994\u20132004 ban on certain semi-automatic guns and 10+ round mags.<\/li>\n<li>the weak association is easily attributable to other factors.<\/li>\n<li>the \u201cmass shootings tripled\u201d statistic is patently false.<\/li>\n<li>bans on magazines that hold 10+ rounds give mass murderers a tactical advantage over law-abiding citizens who carry guns to protect themselves and others.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By James D. AgrestiJune 15, 2022 \u201cFor the children we can save,\u201d declared President Biden on June 2, \u201cwe should reinstate the assault weapons ban and high-capacity magazines that we<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1517141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1517141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1517141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1517141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1517141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}