The latest version of an Assault Weapon Ban, H.R. 2469, does not specifically ban the weapon used by the Orlando Club shooter, the SIG SAUER MCX.
This Bill bans firearms as assault weapons using three methods:
- By design of the weapon, i.e. All AR types, all AK types, etc.
- By name, i.e. Ruger SR556, S&W M&P15, Bushmaster ACR, etc.
- By the features of the weapon, i.e. pistol grip, threaded barrel, etc.
The Sig Sauer MCX is a unique design. While it may look like an AR15 to the untrained Liberal eye, it is a totally different weapon than the AR15. The only interchangeable parts between the two are the 5.56mm round and the magazine that holds them. So it is not banned as being an AR type design.
The Bill bans approximately 145 firearms by name or model to include:
- SIG SAUER SG516
- SIG SAUER AMT
- SIG SAUER PE–57
- SIG SAUER SG 550
- SIG SAUER SG 551
The SIG SAUER MCX is not listed as being banned by name or model.
The third method of banning firearms as assault weapons, by their features, WOULD ban the MCX AS IT IS BEING PRODUCED TODAY. But it is possible to remove the features that qualify it as an assault weapon and it is no longer an assault weapon, it’s just a semi-automatic rifle.
This was the flaw in Bill Clinton’s original Assault Weapon Ban Bill. Under that law, any semi-automatic rifle able to accept detachable magazines and had two or more of the following features was considered an assault weapon and banned:
- Folding or telescoping stock
- Pistol grip
- Bayonet mount
- Flash suppressor, or threaded barrel designed to accommodate one
- Grenade launcher mount
People think this law stopped production of “assault weapons” during its ten year run. It didn’t. Colt and others AR15 producers just replaced the telescoping stock with a fixed stock, left off the bayonet stud and didn’t thread the barrels for a flash suppressor. And presto, change-o, no more assault weapon.
California saw the flaw in Clinton’s Ban and went even stricter with their State law by mandating if a firearm had a removable magazine and even one of the items on the bad boy list, it was an assault weapon. The currently proposed Assault Weapon Ban of 2015 has the same criteria. But they underestimated the ingenuity of gun owners who started building ganked up, but legal weapons like these:
So it would be a simple matter to change the MCX by adding a similar, ganked up, fixed stock that replaces the pistol grip, don’t thread the barrel for a flash suppressor and remove the forearm/barrel shroud (you can grip the weapon at the front of the magwell) and the MCX is no longer an assault weapon.
Banning firearms by features does not work. California has revised their definition of “assault weapon” multiple times becoming more restrictive with each change. The latest updated definition is “any semi-automatic rifle with a removable magazine”. That’s just about every semi-auto rifle made except for .22LR guns made with fixed, tubular magazines.
The thing everyone neglects to mention about assault weapon bans is it only bans new production of firearms meeting the definition of “assault weapon”. It does nothing about the estimated 20-30 million already in circulation. If you use the California definition of assault weapon, make that 40-50 million. Of course in California when they changed the definition, all newly defined “assault weapons” have to be registered, making them easy to locate and confiscate down the road.
But even with this all-encompassing definition, there are already two rifles on the market that would not be considered assault weapons under California or any other State ban but still scare the crap out of California Liberals.
The first is the TROY Pump Action Rifle. Looks like an AR-15, but is a pump action; so does not meet the semi-automatic requirement to be an assault rifle. I think this would be an interesting rifle to shoot.
Troy Defense Pump Action Rifle
The second is the Dark Storm Industries DS-15 fixed magazine rifle. In this design, the magazine is part of the receiver; it cannot be removed. The rifle cannot be converted to use a removable magazine. To load the weapon, the rear take-down pin is removed allowing the upper receiver to pivot so you can access the magazine from the top. Rounds are loaded individually into the magazine; it’s very slow to load. Even though this rifle is not considered an assault weapon under any current State or Federal law, efforts are under way in New York to have it banned.
The thing is, according to the FBI’s statistical data for 2014 (last year complete data is available) there were in the U.S. 248 murders committed with rifles (2.0%), but 1,567 committed with knives (13.1%), 1610 committed with blunt objects (13.4%) and 660 committed with bare hands (5.5%).
FBI Crime Data Report for 2014
As shown in the report, thirteen States had no murders committed with a rifle; Eight States had one murder committed with a rifle and five States had two murders committed with rifles. Combined, 26 States (that’s half the country) had only 18 murders committed with a rifle. Strangely enough, the State with the most rifle murders (40) was the Gun Control Mecca of California.
So why are assault rifles the current focus? Remember those 248 rifle murders in 2014 were not all committed with assault weapons. That number includes bolt action, pump action and single shot.
If their goal is to reduce deaths, their efforts would be better used elsewhere. But that isn’t their goal.
- In a single weekend, 49 people were killed and 53 wounded in Orlando Florida. Before all of the bodies were removed from the crime scene, Liberal politicians were screaming for more gun control.
- Over six weekends in Chicago, 44 people were killed and 281 wounded. Liberal politicians pretty much remained silent. Link to Articles
Orlando had one bad weekend; Chicago has 52 bad weekends.
The Washington Post newspaper has been a vocal opponent of the 2nd Amendment for many years, especially “assault weapons”. They are screaming for a renewal of Bill Clinton’s Assault Weapon Ban. But strangely enough, after Congress enacted Clinton’s ban in 1994, the Washington Post said the law was “mainly symbolic,” and “its virtue will be if it turns out to be as hoped, a stepping stone to broader gun control.”
That’s the goal: Broader Gun Control. And any kind of assault weapon ban would be mainly symbolic because rifles are used in so few crimes.
A report generated at Barrack Obama’s request by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the research, development and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice specifically states, “Assault weapons are not a major contributor to gun crime.”
Summary of Selected Firearm Violence Prevention Strategies
As we’ve been hearing for years, it’s not about guns, it’s about control.