2022: The truth about “mass shootings” and ‘assault weapons’ in the US

Mass shootings as defined by:
https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting
Supplemental / detailed information from;
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-mother-jones-full-data/

Total mass shootings: 636
Total killed, mass shootings: 660
Average killed per shooting: 1.04

'Assault weapons':
Total shootings: 9
Total killed: 54
% of total incidents: 1.42
% of total killed: 8.18

Total murders in US, 2022: ~10500
% mass shootings: ~6.29%
% AW mass shootings: ~0.54%

Blue states:
57.08% shootings, 54.24% deaths
Red states:
42.92% incidents, 45.76% deaths

Summary:
Most mass shootings occur in blue states
Most people killed in mass shootings are in blue states
Mass shootings make up 6.29% of total murders in the US
“Assault weapons” involved in mass shootings represent 0.54% of total murders in the US

Conclusion:
It is impossible to soundly demonstrate the necessity for, and the efficacy of, a ban on ‘assault weapons’.

 

I agree that banning “assault weapons” is not only an impractical solution, but also likely an ineffective one. A better solution, I think, would be red flag laws that target individuals with a history of domestic abuse. Two thirds of mass shooters have a history of abusing partners and family.

On a side not, blue states tend to be over represented due to differences in population.

 

Heck... no one can even DEFINE "assault weapon".... fifty states... fifty different definitions.

 

But... but.... WEAPON OF WAR!!!!!!!!

 

It seems that you are unaware that individuals who have been convicted of domestic abuse or domestic violence are already prevented from owning firearms. By law.

Or are you saying that those who have DA/DV convictions should be allowed to own firearms but should be subject to red flag laws?

 

Politicians are using scare tactics on the gullible who don't know a ranch rifle from an AR 15.

 

Is that an assault muzzle brake?

 

Flash hider.
And bayonet lug.

 

Red flag laws are unconstitutional.

 

"But data from the 15 years following the ban’s expiration now provide stronger evidence that permitting the gun industry to flood the market with increasingly powerful weapons that allow for faster killing has facilitated exactly that outcome. In the decade after the ban, there was a 347 percent increase in fatalities in gun massacres, even as overall violent crime continued downward.

"Indeed, the number of gun-massacre fatalities in the past five years alone has already topped the previous high for the decade after the ban was lifted. If we continue at the post-2014 pace, by 2024 we will have had more than 10 times as many gun massacre deaths in that 10-year period as we had during the decade of the federal assault weapons ban.

"Similarly, fatalities per shooting incident fell during the assault weapon ban and have risen sharply since. With increasingly potent and readily available weaponry, the average number of people who die in a gun massacre has increased by 81 percent in just five years. Assault weapons were used in at least 11 of the 15 gun massacres since 2014; at least 234 of the 271 people who died in gun massacres since 2014 were killed by weapons prohibited under the federal assault weapons ban….

"Gun industry advertisements play on the weaknesses of troubled young men, persuading them that their perceived grievances could be remedied if they possessed the latest assault weapons. The deeply troubled 20-year-old Adam Lanza used a semiautomatic Bushmaster rifle — advertised under the slogan 'Consider Your Man Card Reissued' — to kill 26 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. No other industry is allowed to act so recklessly without facing legal challenge. But a 2005 law immunized gun manufacturers against lawsuits for harm caused by the criminal use of firearms."
NY Times: That Assault Weapons Ban? It Really Did Work

Why has there been a big increase in the number of mass shooting fatalities since the federal assault weapons ban expired?

 

There were no weapons prohibited under the 1994 ban.

Why has there been an increase, given that nothing was actually banned. A civilian didn't use an AR in a mass shooting until 2012, 8 years after the ban was over.

The rifle used at Sandy Hook was totally legal to buy new under the 1994 ban; had the ban not been allowed the lapse, that capability would still remain in the hands of civilians.

The Virginia Tech shooter killed 30 with two pistols. If all "assault weapons" magically disappeared overnight the proven capability to kill 30 full grown adults would remain.

How would an "assault weapons ban", or lack thereof, have affected the shooting at Santa Fe High School or any other mass shooting using any non-assaukt weapon?

What's a massacre? Mother Jones certainly shows more than 15 mass shootings post 2014.

 

tell me what is the practical difference between a 1968 AR 15 and a 2018 AR 15
or either an a government issued (to Civilians through the DCM) MI Carbine and an AR 15? Since Lanza stole weapons in his home after killing his mother, the advertising bullshit is just that-bullshit

 

Fallacy: Post hoc ergo propter hoc.

Dunno. Tell us. Prove your claim.

 

Are the looks of a gun supposed to matter?

I had a pellet gun that looked like those.

I assume that one of them has a switch to auto, and the other one only has semi-auto, or 3 round burst.

 

@Galileo:

"flood the market with increasingly powerful weapons"

Just as a point of information, what exactly has made the weapons "increasingly powerful"?

 

Nope. Both are semi-auto, and literally, function exactly the same.

 

must be those .223 AR 15s rather than the 30-06 MI Garand that the government sold to us civilians by the hundreds of thousands

 

My point is that your argument is weak and based on incomplete data. I think I've shown that.

 

Given that the "ban" didn't take a single "assault weapon" off the streets and new fully effective AR-15s were sold every year of the "ban", how did the lapse of the "ban" increase mass shootings or mass shooting deaths?

There have only been two mass shootings with more deaths than the 32 killed with handguns at Virginia Tech, and in one of those the shooter had over two hours to complete assault.

 

OMG that is priceless-NEITHER has automatic fire capability.

 

lanza could have killed all those children as quickly with a sword or a 6 shot revolver

 

Because 99.9% of people use a butter knife to spread butter/margarine on their bread, does that mean banning the butter knife should occur?
Or what about vehicle accidents, many people die from those. How many of those accidents occurred due to unhinged people behind the wheel, Shouldn't all vehicles also be banned?

 

Says he who presents a post hoc argument as his sole support of his position.

 

Well M14 Shooter, you'll have to ask 2aguy.