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CPRC on Assault Weapon Bans Confirms “Relative Rarity” of Rifle Use in Murders

Monday, February 12, 2024

CPRC on Assault Weapon Bans Confirms “Relative Rarity” of Rifle Use in Murders

In 1994, Congress enacted the Title XI of the Federal Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, imposing a ban on so-called “assault weapons.” The law prohibited the manufacture, transfer, or possession of a “semiautomatic assault weapon,” as listed (e.g., Colt AR-15) or defined (including any semiautomatic rifle that could accept a detachable magazine and had two or more of the specified cosmetic features, like a folding or telescoping stock). The law’s sunset provision repealed the law ten years after it was passed. The Attorney General was required to study the impact of the legislation on violent crime and report back to Congress. Once the ban expired in 2004, it was not renewed.

Since then, gun control advocates at the state and federal level, including President Joe Biden, have not stopped agitating to have similar assault weapon laws reinstated, claiming that these ordinary, popular firearms are “high powered,” “exceptionally deadly,” and “excessively dangerous.” President Biden, the most virulently anti-Second Amendment occupant of the Oval Office to date, appears to personally define “assault weapon” to include any semiautomatic firearm, has repeatedly called for a new ban, alleging that “150 million Americans” have died from gun violence since 2007, and that “mass shootings went down” during the ban and “tripled” once the 1994 ban expired.

Like most of Biden’s over-the-top rhetoric on guns, his assertion that the 1994 ban reduced crime is unsupportable. Two separate studies by the federal Department of Justice (DOJ) on the impact of the ban (here and here) found the ban had no discernible effect on violent crime. A more recent study in 2017 concluded that “[s]pecific laws directed at … the banning of military-style assault weapons were not associated with changes in firearm homicide rates.”

The Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC, crimeresearch.org) examined Biden’s claim about mass shootings in particular and concluded that there “was no drop in the number of attacks with assault weapons during the 1994 to 2004 ban.” While there was an increase after the ban sunset, “the change is not statistically significant. More importantly, if Biden’s claim is correct, we should see a drop in the percent of attacks with assault weapons during the federal ban period and then an increase in the post-ban period, but the exact opposite is true.”

One of the DOJ studies explained the study’s outcome, in part, by reference to the “relative rarity with which the banned weapons were used in gun violence even before the ban.” New research from the CPRC reinforces this finding. Using data from the FBI UCR reports, the CPRC has examined the share of murders committed with any kind of rifle over time, including before, during and after the 1994 federal ban. The Center’s research looked at two indicators of rifle use, in murders generally, and as a share of the more specific class of firearm murders.

Three years before the federal ban, in 1991, the share of firearm murders with rifles (FMR) was 5.18%, and rifles were involved in 3.44% of all murders (MR). At the start of the ban, the share of FMR was already down to 4.69%, while the MR percentage fell slightly, to 3.27%. During the “assault weapon” ban, both numbers spiked twice to exceed the pre-ban levels: first in 1997 (5.95% FMR, 4.03% MR), and again in 2002 (5.12% FMR, 3.42% MR), before reaching somewhat lower levels by the time the ban expired in 2004 (4.29% FMR, 2.97% MR).

Although it may be tempting to attribute these drops, as slight as they are, to the effect of the ban, an analysis over the longer term shows that the ban had no effect on the frequency of use of rifles in murders. In the 12-year period after the ban ended (2005-2017), both the FMR and MR numbers continued to drop and generally stayed below (in some years, well below) what they had been before and during the ban. In 2019, the numbers began a steady rise but, as of 2022, were still below both the 1994 and 2004 numbers (at 3.66% FMR, 2.80% MR).

The CPRC commentary states “it is interesting to see what a small share of murders are committed with any type of rifle and how even that share has fallen over time,” adding that there “was no statistically significant difference in rates before the ban compared to the assault weapon ban period.”

There’s a lesson in these numbers, but it’s not one that gun control advocates are interested in. Joe Biden will almost certainly make gun control, and in particular, an assault weapons ban, a cornerstone of his reelection campaign. It’s particularly ironic, then that his first campaign video of 2024 opens with him intoning, “Freedom. Personal freedom is fundamental to who we are as Americans. There’s nothing more important. Nothing more sacred. That’s been the work of my first term… To protect our rights…. The question we’re facing is whether in the years ahead, we have more freedom or less freedom. More rights or fewer.” While Biden gets worked up over “MAGA extremists…lining up to take those bedrock freedoms,” he should, perhaps, spare a thought to how perverse it is to present himself as a champion of fundamental constitutional rights.  

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Biden-Harris Administration Caps a Year of Executive Gun Control With … More of the Same

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Monday, September 30, 2024

Biden-Harris Administration Caps a Year of Executive Gun Control With … More of the Same

Last week, the Biden-Harris administration celebrated the one-year anniversary of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. 

Massachusetts: Gov. Healey Forces Gun Control Law Into Effect

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Massachusetts: Gov. Healey Forces Gun Control Law Into Effect

Governor Maura Healey, one of the nation's most extreme anti-gun politicians, has forced H. 4885 into law.

Kamala for Gun Confiscation: In Her Own Words

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Monday, September 16, 2024

Kamala for Gun Confiscation: In Her Own Words

During the September 10 presidential debate, President Donald Trump correctly highlighted Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’s support for gun confiscation. A visibly defensive Harris claimed, “We're not taking anybody's guns away. So stop with the ...

Washington District Court Denies Preliminary Injunction of “Assault Weapon” Ban in NRA-ILA Supported Case

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Washington District Court Denies Preliminary Injunction of “Assault Weapon” Ban in NRA-ILA Supported Case

On September 26, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington denied an NRA-backed request for a preliminary injunction against Washington State’s “assault weapon” ban.

Massachusetts: Non-Resident Hunters Beware

Saturday, September 28, 2024

Massachusetts: Non-Resident Hunters Beware

As noted in a recent American Hunter article, Massachusetts Hunters Face Anti-Gun Law This Fall, there are new legal risks for those looking to hunt in the Bay State. 

Canada’s Confiscation Scheme – A Lesson for America

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Monday, September 30, 2024

Canada’s Confiscation Scheme – A Lesson for America

Vice President and Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris has, in the past, been forthcoming about her support of gun confiscation and mandatory “buybacks” (here and here), and there’s little reason to believe that she has changed her values.

Massachusetts: Gov. Healey Signs Radical Gun Control Into Law

Thursday, July 25, 2024

Massachusetts: Gov. Healey Signs Radical Gun Control Into Law

On Thursday, July 25th, Governor Maura Healey (D) signed H. 4885, "an act modernizing firearm laws," one of the most extreme gun control bills in the country, into law.

When it Comes to Guns Harris is Running a Disinformation Campaign

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Monday, September 30, 2024

When it Comes to Guns Harris is Running a Disinformation Campaign

Kamala Harris is the most anti-gun candidate who has ever been as close as she is to becoming president, even if she has been less than forthcoming on her specific views on firearms and the ...

Kamala Harris is an Existential Threat to the Second Amendment and Supports Gun Confiscation

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Monday, July 29, 2024

Kamala Harris is an Existential Threat to the Second Amendment and Supports Gun Confiscation

Since President Joe Biden unceremoniously dropped out, or was forced out, of the 2024 presidential race on July 21, Vice President Kamala Harris has been effectively coronated as the Democratic presidential nominee.

President Donald J. Trump to Deliver Keynote Address At NRA’s Defend the 2nd Event in Savannah, GA

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Friday, October 4, 2024

President Donald J. Trump to Deliver Keynote Address At NRA’s Defend the 2nd Event in Savannah, GA

Today, the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) announced that President Donald J. Trump will serve as the special guest keynote speaker at the NRA’s “Defend the 2nd” event in Savannah, GA, on Tuesday, October ...

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Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.