HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

Assault Weapon Bans Are All About Appearance

Views:928
@ReasonVids

Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s latest bill classifies firearms not by what they do but based on how they look.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/reasontv
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason
Subscribe to our podcast at Apple Podcasts: https://goo.gl/az3a7a

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.

----------------

A string of high-profile mass shootings over the past few years has spawned a movement to outlaw so-called assault weapons, in particular the popular AR-15.

On January 9, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D–Calif.) introduced a federal bill to ban assault weapons—legislation that's been depicted as life-saving, common sense policy. But its definition of an assault weapon is totally arbitrary.

Proposals like Feinstein's latest draft bill leave shooters with plenty of equally deadly alternatives.

"An assault weapon is whatever is covered by an assault weapon ban," says Reason Senior Editor Jacob Sullum, author of a feature story on the topic in our June 2018 issue. "The criteria that are used to identify assault weapons are things that have little or nothing to do with how useful or how deadly an assault weapon is in the hands of a mass murderer."

The federal government banned assault weapons in 1994, when President Bill Clinton signed a bill also sponsored by Sen. Feinstein. That legislation expired 10 years later. Meanwhile, seven states and the District of Columbia have enacted their own assault weapon bans.

There's little evidence that the 1994 legislation reduced gun deaths, in part because it was mostly a symbolic gesture.

"Unless you really delve into the specifics of what these bills do, you don't understand how utterly arbitrary they are," says Sullum.

Read the full article here: https://reason.com/reasontv/2019/01/11/dianne-feinstein-assault-weapon-ban

Produced and edited by Mark McDaniel. Cameras by Jim Epstein, Zach Weismuller, and McDaniel.

"Day Into Night" by Rho is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

"See You Soon" by Borrtex is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.

"The First" by Scott Gratton is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.

Photo Credit:

Ingram Publishing/Newscom

Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Newscom

ADREES LATIF/REUTERS/Newscom

SERGIO FLORES/UPI/Newscom

GARY I ROTHSTEIN/UPI/Newscom

Joyce N. Boghosian/ZUMA Press/Newscom

Christopher Dilts/Sipa USA/Newscom

David Santiago/TNS/Newscom

Mike Stocker/TNS/Newscom

Allison Zaucha/ZUMA Press/Newscom

Sam Simmonds/Polaris/Newscom

ZUMA Press/Newscom

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
guns
,
assault weapon
,
assault weapon ban
,
ar-15
,
ruger mini-14
,
dianne feinstein
    Thumbnail for Stossel: Government Shutdown Shows Private Is Better4:49
    Stossel: Government Shutdown Shows Private Is Better
    ReasonVids
    958 views
    Thumbnail for @conspirologist pays a visit after you downvote his spam posts 0:06
    @conspirologist pays a visit after you downvote his spam posts
    bestofupgoat
    278 views
    Thumbnail for Based Swedish man tired of welfare leech niggers is not having it anymore.1:09
    Based Swedish man tired of welfare leech niggers is not having it anymore.
    AOU
    6165 views
    Thumbnail for America at the Crossroads40:56
    America at the Crossroads
    AmericanRenaissance
    1366 views
    Thumbnail for Remy: I Like it, I Love it (Tim McGraw Parody)2:03
    Remy: I Like it, I Love it (Tim McGraw Parody)
    ReasonVids
    957 views
    Thumbnail for Not Your Classic Styled Zeepkist Level - Kick or Clutch Ep. 386 | OwlPlague11:52
    Not Your Classic Styled Zeepkist Level - Kick or Clutch Ep. 386 | OwlPlague
    invidious
    352 views
    Thumbnail for Sydney Preist Stabbed on Livestream0:09
    Sydney Preist Stabbed on Livestream
    bestofupgoat
    290 views
    Thumbnail for Why You Can't Solve a Public Health Problem With Economic Stimulus16:01
    Why You Can't Solve a Public Health Problem With Economic Stimulus
    ReasonVids
    970 views
    Thumbnail for I added some audio to this summerly crustacean video0:09
    I added some audio to this summerly crustacean video
    bestofvoatxyz
    527 views
    Thumbnail for Collective Bargaining and the Bottom Line: Q&A with Heritage Foundation's James Sherk5:36
    Collective Bargaining and the Bottom Line: Q&A with Heritage Foundation's James Sherk
    ReasonVids
    954 views
    Thumbnail for Overstock.com's Patrick Byrne On Internet Sales Taxes, Naked Short Selling & Regulatory Capture9:58
    Overstock.com's Patrick Byrne On Internet Sales Taxes, Naked Short Selling & Regulatory Capture
    ReasonVids
    956 views
    Thumbnail for You can't barking catch me1:16
    You can't barking catch me
    AOUisgay
    493 views
    Thumbnail for Cooler vs Frieza (Final Form) - MUGEN (Gameplay) S1 • E91:20
    Cooler vs Frieza (Final Form) - MUGEN (Gameplay) S1 • E9
    memology101
    1190 views
    Thumbnail for Why No Smart City Would Want the NFL7:24
    Why No Smart City Would Want the NFL
    ReasonVids
    983 views
    Thumbnail for Spaghetti0:46
    Spaghetti
    bestofupgoat
    113 views
    Thumbnail for Aaron Ginn on the 2014 Reboot Conference and Conservatarian Millennials5:24
    Aaron Ginn on the 2014 Reboot Conference and Conservatarian Millennials
    ReasonVids
    984 views
    Thumbnail for Dynamons 410:00
    Dynamons 4
    stumble_bro
    506 views
    Thumbnail for 2000s R&B Party Mix -  Throwback R&B Classics - Usher, Chris Brown, Alicia Keys, Ne Yo, Mary J Blige | RnB Music Club1:00
    2000s R&B Party Mix - Throwback R&B Classics - Usher, Chris Brown, Alicia Keys, Ne Yo, Mary J Blige | RnB Music Club
    invidious
    372 views
    Thumbnail for Whoa, Black Betty...0:18
    Whoa, Black Betty...
    Lilchowmein
    3197 views
    Thumbnail for Donald Trump Has the Power to Release Nonviolent Marijuana Offenders from Prison. Will He Act?11:19
    Donald Trump Has the Power to Release Nonviolent Marijuana Offenders from Prison. Will He Act?
    ReasonVids
    946 views
    Thumbnail for Teaching is Not a Crime: Challenging Virginia's Unconstitutional Regulation of Yoga Teacher Training3:05
    Teaching is Not a Crime: Challenging Virginia's Unconstitutional Regulation of Yoga Teacher Training
    IJvids
    856 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
guns
,
assault weapon
,
assault weapon ban
,
ar-15
,
ruger mini-14
,
dianne feinstein
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle