Mixed media: The effectiveness of gun control

GOOD RIDDANCE

US NEWSPAPER - Good riddance to bad law, implying it is preferable to be shot by a firearm less "menacing". Other than their appearance, the "military-style" weapons are no different than other semi-automatic firearms. Firearms murdered 11,546 in 2002. Motor vehicles killed 44,572 in 2002. Firearms and automobiles are mindless mechanical devices operated by people - who overwhelmingly use them legitimately and safely. We will not outlaw motor vehicles, not yet, anyway.
- Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

TEXAS RADIO STATION - A 10-year ban on certain types of assault weapons ends because Congress has decided not to renew the ban. Does this mean you'll face more heavily armed criminals in the streets? Gun store owners explain that there was never a ban on assault weapons. It was a ban on accessories such as the collapsible stock, pistol grip, extended magazine, bayonet lug and flash suppressors. What the ban did was raise the price of assault weapons that were still legal under the ban. And that's why it was such a useless bill, says Ron Farington from Nagel's Gun Shop.
- WOAI, San Antonio

US SCEPTIC - Depending entirely on the police for protection from crime has always struck me as being a poor plan, and the crime-deterring effects of gun control have always been questionable. If a criminal is willing to break one law (against robbery, homicide, etc) there's no reason he won't break a gun law. The Assault Weapons Law was a trendy law, designed to make it appear that Congress was doing something about a series of high-profile but non-representative crimes that were in the news in the early 90s. This was similar to attempted bans in the early 80s on "cop-killer" Teflon-coated bullets that had never killed any cops.
- Les Jones

SCOTTISH NEWSPAPER - In many ways, the expiry of the ban is more important for its symbolism than its effect on the gun industry. Studies carried out by pro- and anti-gun groups, as well as by the US Justice Department, show conflicting results on whether the ban helped to reduce crime. Loopholes allowed manufacturers to keep many weapons on the market, simply by changing their names or altering some features or accessories.
- The Scotsman

LIVES AT RISK

TEXAN VIEW - Eighty per cent of Texans, including 78 per cent with guns in their homes, want Congress to renew the assault weapons ban, according to the Scripps Howard Texas Poll. Fifteen per cent of Texans oppose renewing the ban. "Americans will die if the assault ban sunsets," said Eric Howard, spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a gun control advocacy group.
- The Brownsville Herald

US MAGAZINE - Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, who lost her husband and almost lost her son to gun violence, blamed both major political parties for failing to renew the assault weapons ban, the legislation that propelled her to Congress. "It's because of pure politics, and I'm disappointed in both sides," she said outside Congress.
McCarthy, a Long Island nurse, became a national symbol for gun control advocates after her husband was slain and her son was badly wounded by a gunman's rampage aboard a Long Island Rail Road commuter train in December 1993.
- Newsday

POLITICAL WEBSITE - "I defend the Second Amendment right to bear arms. But no one needs an Uzi to defend himself or his family." Arlen Specter (Pennsylvania, Republican sitting senator) claims that assault weapons ban hasn't worked. The fact is, since 1994 when the Brady Law and the Assault Weapons Ban went into effect, annual firearms have dropped by 25 per cent.
- Democratic senate candidate Joe Hoeffel's website

PARENT'S PLEA - Five years ago my 15-year-old son Daniel Mauser was one of 13 people killed at Columbine High School by two students. One of them used an illegal assault weapon. The national Assault Weapons Ban automatically expires at the end of the summer. Congress must renew this ban or military-style assault weapons will be back on the street and available for sale.We cannot let this happen. We have to put pressure on Congress to act now.
- Tom's Petition

US BLOGGER - While there are various spins on its effectiveness or its infringement of our right to murder each other at a distance, I'm in favour of a ban on assault weapons. I can't see any need for the average American citizen to own an assault weapon. Like plutonium, I don't see that any good comes from enabling the Average Joe to have it . . . had plutonium existed in the late 1700s, the second-amendment fanatics would be demanding their rights to get radiation poisoning from it today.
- Head Voices