Bans on so-called assault weapons aren’t new. They also don’t work. The federal ban, which *sunsetted* in 2006, was touted as causing a downturn in the homicide rate, but mostly until people realized that the homicide rate was already trending downward, and then it continued to do so after the ban sunset. In other words, it accomplished nothing.
Nevertheless, anti-gunners keep pushing them, and now their luck has run out.
As reported on Tuesday by a dashing and handsome writer here at Bearing Arms–or, more accurately, yours truly, who is arguably neither of those things–the Supreme Court of the United States of America has agreed to hear a challenge to state-level assault weapon bans. Suffice it to say, I’m very excited by this.
Everytown for Gun Safety in America, though? Not so much, apparently.
Today, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins, which involve reckless gun lobby challenges to Cook County, Illinois and Connecticut laws restricting assault weapons – weapons that are frequently used in our nation’s deadliest mass shootings.
“Assault weapons cause massive devastation. They are the weapons of choice for mass shooters,” said Janet Carter, managing director of Second Amendment litigation at Everytown Law. “These laws are critical public safety measures, and they are consistent with the Second Amendment. Six federal appeals courts have rightly upheld assault weapon and large-capacity magazine laws, and we urge the Supreme Court to follow suit.”
To date, 11 states and Washington D.C. have enacted laws to prohibit assault weapons and 16 states have enacted regulations around assault weapons more generally. These laws have been consistently upheld by federal courts, first in the wake of District of Columbia v. Heller, which first held that there is an individual right under the Second Amendment, and again after New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen. All four federal courts of appeals that have considered the constitutionality of assault weapon laws since Bruen—the First, Second, Fourth, and Seventh Circuits—have upheld them.
From 2015 to 2022, shootings with four or more people killed where assault weapons were used resulted in nearly six times as many people shot, more than twice as many people killed, and 23 times as many people wounded per incident, on average compared to those that did not involve the use of one. Additionally, from 2016 to 2025, all of the ten deadliest mass shooting incidents involved both an assault weapon and a large-capacity magazine. Read more here.
Oh, they’re very upset.
First, let’s keep in mind that they’re framing the issue to make it look worse than it is. Their timeframe in that last paragraph omits a few massacres. For example, it excludes the Virginia Tech shooting, where the killer used handguns. It also excludes the Luby’s shooting in Texas back in 1991.
They had to do that because, if they didn’t, it would become clear that the problem just might not be so-called assault weapons, but that people are finding unarmed victims to massacre, doing so, and that it doesn’t really matter what kind of weapon you actually want to use.
Especially as you scroll down a list of the worst such shootings since 1949, what you’ll find is that a lot of them have handguns as the primary weapon. It wasn’t until the media went buck wild demonizing so-called assault weapons that mass killers started preferring them to any degree.
Yet the issue that Everytown doesn’t want to face is that in matters of constitutionality, nebulous claims about public safety using cherry-picked data are not remotely relevant. In 1787, Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to James Madison. In it, he famously wrote, “Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem.” Translated from Latin into English, he said, “I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.”
What is relevant, though, is the text of the Second Amendment, the original intention behind it, and, after the Bruen decision, the history and tradition of this country when it comes to gun laws.
They can urge the court to ignore the Second Amendment all they want, but they’re upset because they know they’re going to lose. There’s nothing there to support such a ban besides their cherry-picked claims, their ever-so-strong feelings, and their desire to see Americans completely disarmed.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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Read the full article here
