Tweet of the day (Guns)

[krispos42]

61. Which is far more plausable than saying the Assault Weapons Ban did anything

Homicide by rifle only accounts for about 4% of the murders in any given year. Even assuming that only "assault rifles" (semiautomatic rifles with more than an allowable number of cosmetic features) accounted for every single rifle murder, the murder rate would only have dropped by 4%.

Homicide by shotgun account for about 11% of murders. Even assuming that only "assault shotguns" (semiautomatic shotguns with more than an allowable number of cosmetic features) accounted for every single shotgun murder, the murder rate would likewise have only dropped by 11%.

FURTHERMORE, the ban was only against sales of new guns. While no new semiautomatic long guns that met the definition of "assault weapon" were sold, there were already millions, probably tens of millions, in circulation. And more semiautomatic long guns that were cosmetically modified to not be "assault weapons" were sold by the million as well.



The argument about why the nationwide crime rate fell is make in the book "Freakonomics". One of the major factors was the legalization of abortion in 1973 nationwide. Interestingly, the authors noted that the trend started earlier in states that legalized abortion before Roe v. Wade. There were other reasons, both major and minor, that also had an impact.


But the murder rate dropped by something like 40%