Gun Control
The Second Amendment
Issue date: 11/24/08 Section: Opinion
Following a presidential election that stands to be the most influential in our nation's history, common sense failed in predicting one of the issues at the forefront of the nation's mind.
In the wake of the recent presidential election, while the national media has sunk to covering such benign issues as the state of the world economy, the detailed plans for the government to spend $700 billion of taxpayers' money and a sweeping vote to deny marriage rights to homosexuals, the news outlets in Texas have made a point of focusing on the one issue that is really important: Obama's plans to re-institute the federal ban on assault weapons.
Perhaps that statement was rather unfair. It is not just Texans who are, quite literally, up in arms following the announcement of the country's new president-elect. In an article published by the Associated Press, gun retailers reported a 15 percent increase in background checks for gun purchases in October compared to one year ago.
Listening to the voices of Americans, carried both in print and high definition, the radically literal would assume an Obama administration would be content with ignoring the right to bear arms, just as easily as the current administration ignored rights to privacy, right to due process and formal declarations of war.
A keen ear would reassure Americans that no gun shop is slated to dismantle its inventory, nor will individuals be denied licensed firearms for sportsmanship or self defense. The primary legislation Obama hopes to see take effect during his years holding the reigns is the now expired ban on assault weapons, passed by Congress in 1994 during the Clinton administration.
On Sept. 13, 1994, Congress passed Title XI of the Federal Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, known as the Crime Control Act of 1994. This act banned the manufacture, transfer and possession of certain semiautomatic firearms designated as "assault weapons." Upon its expiration in Sept. 2004, there was little pressure to renew the ban, primarily due to an independent study commissioned by the National Institute of Justice. The report displayed evidence that the ban of the weapons in question did little to decrease the levels of gun violence in America during the years the ban was in place.
While many feel that such a dismal result from a honorable endeavor is disappointing, we would like to pose a question; what are the merits of owning assault weapons? It is likely that few hunters would claim the thrill of the hunt stems only from the ability to mow a deer down with a submachine gun or an assault rifle. We are also waiting patiently for the first Olympic sharpshooting competition to test an athlete's skill in shooting clay pigeons with a belt-fed machine gun.
Though many might say that the consequences of such commerce fails to impact the lives of those of us north of the Rio Grande, they should remember that the drug trade influences in modern day life. We find that a "common-sense gun law", to use the president-elect's terms, disallowing the sale of assault weapons is both practical and logical.
In the wake of the recent presidential election, while the national media has sunk to covering such benign issues as the state of the world economy, the detailed plans for the government to spend $700 billion of taxpayers' money and a sweeping vote to deny marriage rights to homosexuals, the news outlets in Texas have made a point of focusing on the one issue that is really important: Obama's plans to re-institute the federal ban on assault weapons.
Perhaps that statement was rather unfair. It is not just Texans who are, quite literally, up in arms following the announcement of the country's new president-elect. In an article published by the Associated Press, gun retailers reported a 15 percent increase in background checks for gun purchases in October compared to one year ago.
Listening to the voices of Americans, carried both in print and high definition, the radically literal would assume an Obama administration would be content with ignoring the right to bear arms, just as easily as the current administration ignored rights to privacy, right to due process and formal declarations of war.
A keen ear would reassure Americans that no gun shop is slated to dismantle its inventory, nor will individuals be denied licensed firearms for sportsmanship or self defense. The primary legislation Obama hopes to see take effect during his years holding the reigns is the now expired ban on assault weapons, passed by Congress in 1994 during the Clinton administration.
On Sept. 13, 1994, Congress passed Title XI of the Federal Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, known as the Crime Control Act of 1994. This act banned the manufacture, transfer and possession of certain semiautomatic firearms designated as "assault weapons." Upon its expiration in Sept. 2004, there was little pressure to renew the ban, primarily due to an independent study commissioned by the National Institute of Justice. The report displayed evidence that the ban of the weapons in question did little to decrease the levels of gun violence in America during the years the ban was in place.
While many feel that such a dismal result from a honorable endeavor is disappointing, we would like to pose a question; what are the merits of owning assault weapons? It is likely that few hunters would claim the thrill of the hunt stems only from the ability to mow a deer down with a submachine gun or an assault rifle. We are also waiting patiently for the first Olympic sharpshooting competition to test an athlete's skill in shooting clay pigeons with a belt-fed machine gun.
Though many might say that the consequences of such commerce fails to impact the lives of those of us north of the Rio Grande, they should remember that the drug trade influences in modern day life. We find that a "common-sense gun law", to use the president-elect's terms, disallowing the sale of assault weapons is both practical and logical.
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