By William Kirk Washington Gun Law
Hello again, everyone. Welcome to Washington Gun Law tv. I am Washington Gun Law President William Kirk. Thanks for joining us. Stop me if you've heard this before. Weapons of War have no places on our street. These weapons are designed to inflict mass casualties. The preferred weapon of the mass shooter is the assault weapon. Have you heard that before? Well, is any of that true? I bring that up because as we know, we have several states already that have banned semi-automatic rifles, and many more are kicking that idea around, and every time you look at the legislative findings, they're trying to justify this legislation based upon the same thing. Is that thing that they base all of this legislation on even true? Well, let's actually take a look at the data today. So today, let's spend a few minutes and let's talk about the truth about assault weapons and mass shootings.
Assault weapon bans
Okay, so this is what we are talking about today. We're talking about assault weapon bans. I know many of you, you're freaking out because I use the term assault weapon. That's what they're called in your jurisdictions. We call 'em semi-automatic rifles. However, many of these statutes ban a lot more than just semi-automatic rifles. They may involve also AR pistols and some tacticals, semi-automatic shotguns and things such as that. Currently, there is a litany of states that have already banned these platforms of firearms, and they include New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois, district of Columbia, California, Washington, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii, and Massachusetts. And of course, if that's not enough, then we have several other states kick in the idea around this legislative session, including New Mexico, Colorado, Maine, and Virginia, and there may be other states that are adding to that list soon. Now, I went back and took a look at some legislation, some that has been passed already, some that is trying to be passed, and I have found a very, very common thread to everything, which is the justification for which all of these legislators are using in order to ban this type of legislation.
Study updated information
And so we're going to compare what they're alleging with the actual data and research numbers. Now, for data and research numbers, we always do cite to our sources. The source of today's material will be the study updated information on mass public shootings from 1998 through October, 2023, published January 12th, 2024 by the Crime Prevention Research Center, Dr. John Lot, who actually just takes a look at empirical data and then compares what actually happens to what we claim happens. Okay? Now this is the important thing. When I go back and I take a look at states that are kicking around the idea now of passing assault weapon bans. Let's take for example, the state of New Mexico. What did Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham say during her press conference about this assault weapon bans, lawfully regulate the manufacturer possession and sale of weapons of war, most often the gun used in mass casualty events.
Prevent mass shootings
Alright, so the governor of New Mexico claims that that is the firearm, which is most commonly used in mass casualty events. Then Virginia, you guys got house bill two, senate bill two kicking around in your state where you're talking about banning these weapons. Now, proponents of the legislation were quoted in the press as stating, weapons of war don't belong on our streets. These weapons have one purpose. They're designed to close in and kill an enemy. Our neighbors aren't our enemies. That was according to Representative Dan Helmer. But however, take a look at what else the media pointed out in the exact same article. Assault weapons were used in 3% of homicides in 2020 according to data from the Pew Research Center. But proponents of the bills say it would help prevent mass shootings. Okay? So there's this stat out there that says it was only used in 3% of the homicides, but hey, this is going to prevent mass shootings.
Assailant with an assault weapon
Now these are two pieces of legislation which are currently kicking around. Now let's take a look at a piece of legislation that's actually passed and already being subjected onto its citizens, and I'm referring to Washington's assault weapon ban, which was enacted into law last year. The legislative findings on house Bill 1240, which ultimately became our assault weapon ban here stated the following, assault weapons have been used in the deadliest mass shootings in the last decade. An assailant with an assault weapon can hurt and kill twice the number of people that an assailant with a handgun or non-art rifle. This is because the additional features of an assault weapon are not merely cosmetic. Rather, these are features that allow shooters to fire large numbers of rounds quickly. An analysis of mass shootings that result in four or more deaths found that 85% of those fatalities were caused by an assault weapon.
The legislature also finds that this legislation is likely to have an impact on the number of mass shootings committed in Washington. Okay, so with that all in mind, does all of those allegations actually jive with the real data? Well, when we take a look at the real data, this is what we see. What we see is that the firearm used in most mass shootings is the handgun. As a matter of fact, the handgun has been used 52.5% of the time. And then when we take a look at the number of people who were shot using only a rifle, we see that the number is 16.8% of all victims. Now, when we take a look at that number combined with the number of mass shootings in which the shooter used both a handgun and a rifle, we see that there's 16.8% with only a rifle and another 13.9% with a handgun and a rifle. A rifle is used in 30.7%, but that's only if we're combining situations in which a handgun was also used exclusively using a rifle is still at 16.8%.
Preferred weapon of choice
Now, I'm not making light of these numbers, and any one of these is one too many. However, when your state legislature is trying to ban semi-automatic rifles or what they want to label as assault weapons, and they're going to say that this is necessary to save lives and that this is the preferred weapon of choice in those who execute mass shootings, the bottom line is, is the data does not back that up. Listen, we'll go ahead and link it all up down below so that you can geek out on it for yourself. If you got any other questions about this or anything else related to what's left of our Second Amendment rights, you guys should know how to get ahold of Washington gun law by now. If you don't, that's okay. That information is down there in the description box as well. Now, in the meantime, let's everyone remember that part of being the lawful and responsible gun owner, like we talk about all the time here, is to know what the law is in every situation, how it applies to you in any instance that you may find yourself. Until next time, thanks for watching. Stay Safe.
YouTube Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZMHnU8UcHw
Credit: William Kirk, Esq Washington Gun Law
Also, read Transporting a Firearm Through DC | Gun Lawyer | Scrofano Law PC for more information.