Blake has an update and request for help regarding Mark Lancaster.

Chris emailed this link that instructs people how to win the debate in favor of extending the assault weapons ban. It does so poorly:

An overwhelming majority of Americans support the ban.

Since, as is often reported here, the ban is misrepresented as banning machine guns, I’d say that is not really the case. After all, other pollsters have been accused of asking loaded questions, such as do you support a ban on AK47s and Uzis to imply machine guns. And the majority of Americans supported slavery and segregation too. Don’t make it right.

The prohibited guns are designed specifically for killing people. The law mentions 19 semiautomatic weapons by name, none of which can be construed to have any sporting purpose. As the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has written, “Assault weapons were designed for rapid fire, close quarter shooting at human beings. That is why they were put together the way they were. You will not find these guns in a duck blind or at the Olympics. They are mass produced mayhem.”

These guns are used in sporting competitions at Camp Perry and they serve other recreational purposes. Actual assault weapons (you know, machine guns) are designed for rapid fire. The banned weapons have the same rate of fire as a semi-automatic hunting rifle. The Second Amendment doesn’t guarantee the right to arms for sporting purposes or hunting, just the right to arms. And if you quote the Brady Campaign, you have already lost the debate.

The ban has been effective. Since the implementation of the law in 1994, ATF found that the proportion of gun crime traced to the banned weapons has fallen by two-thirds. The Department of Justice study mandated by the law controlled for other variables related to the drop in violent crime and concluded that murder rates dropped nearly 7% below what they were projected to be without the ban

Before the ban, these weapons were used in roughly 0.25% of crimes (link – see page 2). Two-thirds of an insignificant number remains insignificant. The drop in murder rate also coincided with a better economy and the increase in the number of states that issue concealed carry laws. Correlation does not equal causation. And since the guns were used in so few crimes to begin with, it likely had no effect. Even the Centers for Disease Control said that gun bans have not been shown to have an impact on crime.

Assault weapons are lethal tools for crime. They have been used in some of the most horrible crimes in recent history, including the Branch-Davidian standoff at Waco and the Stockton schoolyard massacre. Prohibiting these guns does not infringe on hunting rights or rights to self-defense—it only prevents criminals from accessing the best equipment for committing mass murder. The gun lobby’s refusal to conform to the obvious social consensus that banning tools for slaughter is a good idea shows that it places narrow special interests completely above the safety of the American people.

The Branch Davidians used machine guns in addition to assault rifles. Semi-auto versions of AK47s, as used in the Stockton massacre, are still available. They just aren’t available with more than one of a flash hider, bayonet lug, grenade launcher, pistol grip, or threaded barrel. Again, there is no right to hunt guaranteed in the Constitution and I think some Korean shop owners in Los Angeles in 1992 would disagree about them not being useful for self-defense. Lastly, the favored weapon of criminals is a cheap handgun. Assault weapons are typically expensive and are not favored by criminals, as they are only used in less than one percent of crimes before and after the ban.

SayUncle is now the number one Google for “Synonyms for fart”.

Read the whole thing.

WATE reports:

Authorities say a sports utility vehicle exploded and killed a man in a parking lot at Nashville’s largest hotel.

ATF agents say the explosion in the Range Rover happened just before midnight in a lot about a half-mile from the main entrance of Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center.

ATF agent Jim Cavanaugh said the cause of the blast hasn’t been determined. But he says investigators suspect it was a homemade bomb.

Investigators from the federal Joint Terrorism Task Force and the FBI are also at the scene of the popular resort.

Police said the powerful explosion was felt miles away. It left nothing but a shell of the SUV that was found about 200 feet from a day care center.

It will be curious to see how this pans out.

It seems that Kerry and Edwards are ranked as more liberal than Mondale and Ferraro.

This just in: SayUncle shocked to learn that Sandy Berger may be a dude.

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Kevin T. Keith over at Lean Left writes:

Gun-rights Web sites are crowing that the GOP is actively working to prevent any extension of the assault weapons ban – currently set to expire – from coming to a vote, even though Bush has pledged his support for the ban. The reason: Bush’s promise was a lie, and they are trying to protect him from being caught between the gun lobby and his own pledge.

The utter stupidity of the assault weapons ban aside, the politics of this thing are going to come into play and it will cost Bush votes and endorsement by the NRA if he signs the bill. The NRA is currently not endorsing Bush due to his support of the ban. They are, however, slamming Kerry constantly. My prediction is that if the ban sunsets, the NRA will endorse Bush.

Kevin continues with:

[the] above comes from a Libertarian candidate who insists that “both of the major parties are, in fact, the same” and that “the NRA is not a gun rights organization, but merely a fund raising operation for those who blindly follow GOP dictates.” Yep – there’s somebody who thinks that both the Republican party and the NRA are too liberal on gun issues! Super-right-wing whackiness aside, we need to support Senator Feinstein in her drive to attach the ban extension as a rider on current legislation.

The Libertarian candidates are incorrect. There is a difference between Bush and Kerry. Bush signed concealed carry into law in Texas and his Justice Department reversed 40 years of policy by recognizing the individual right to arms. Bush also has not actively pursued the AWB. Kerry, who never misses an opportunity to pose with a gun, would never endorse concealed carry and would actively pursue the AWB. In fact, the AWB was one of those rare bills he and Edwards decided to show up to vote for. Kerry has never seen a gun control law he hasn’t liked.

On the NRA, the Libertarians are sort of correct. There has not been a federal gun control law passed since 1934 that did not have the NRA’s blessing or that they weren’t willing to let slide to get another bill. The NRA endorsed the Gun Control Acts of 1968 and 1986. The NRA could have stopped (as the bill could have been filibustered) the 1994 assault weapons ban but chose not to because the NRA wanted the national instant background check system more to get rid of waiting periods. Not bad for an extremist gun lobby.

I am not nor have I ever been a member of the NRA. I have stated that if the ban sunsets, I will join.

Recently, when the gun manufacturer immunity bill was up for debate on the Senate floor, it was (and still is) widely believed that the NRA was willing to sell gun owners out by allowing the ban to pass in exchange for the immunity bill. The NRA, historically, has gone to great lengths to protect manufacturers (see 1968 and 1986 GCAs). They were, rumor has it, inundated with phone calls and other correspondence telling them that the ban was unacceptable and changed their minds about letting it through.

On the ban itself, there are only four reasons to support the ban:

1 – You incorrectly believe that it does actually ban AK47s, Uzis and machine guns. This is likely the case for most folks because it’s what the press constantly tells you. The ban does not.

2 – You are for gun control and think the ban is a symbolic precursor to the confiscation and/or outright ban of arms in the US, which it is. After all, even Tom Diaz of the Violence Policy Center has stated the ban is ineffective at accomplishing any thing.

3 – You’re an idiot

4 – To play politics and call Bush out on his pledge to sign the bill into law which will surely cost him votes.

I know Kevin’s not an idiot. I think his reason is either number 2 or number 4.

Maybe it’s because the ban doesn’t actually ban any guns but rather bans features:

More than 40 gunmakers in 22 states are currently marketing “post-ban” assault weapons—including UZIs, AK-47s, AR-15s, MAC-10s, Galils, MP5s, Tommy Guns, Stens, and others—according to United States of Assault Weapons: Gunmakers Evading the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, a new study released today by the Violence Policy Center (VPC), a Washington, DC-based national research and educational organization. The study also estimates that more than one million “post-ban” assault weapons have been manufactured in the United States since the ban’s passage in 1994 and warns that today “there are more assault weapon manufacturers and assault weapons available for sale than ever before.” The study proves that if the 1994 ban is simply renewed, and not strengthened, every single one of the assault weapons made by these companies and featured in the study will remain on the market, legal for sale to the American public under federal law.

Good.