Rap doesn’t cause violence but guns do
At least that’s what Ryan Donohue says. Which is more likely to incite violence? An inanimate object or glorifying violence to impressionable kids? Now, I’m not one for banning music or, well, lots of things but it seems a bit disingenuous to me. After all, other countries have fewer guns and more crime than the US. Some have more guns and less crime than the US.
And Mr. Donohue is either a liar or ignorant:
Las Vegas Police Sgt. Henry Prendes might still be alive today if the Republican Congress, working with President Bush and the NRA, had not allowed the Assault Weapons Ban to expire. The law that made it illegal for gun manufactures to make and sell automatic weapons could have stopped Amir “Trajik” Krump from even obtaining the AK-47 that he used to shoot and kill the first officer to die in the line of duty in Las Vegas in 18 years.
As about 2 seconds of Googling would have made clear, the assault weapons ban did not affect automatic weapons. Automatic weapons have been regulated since 1934 and banned from new production since 1986. And more:
Before I continue, let me point out that I am not “anti-guns.”As a matter of fact, I have no problems with handguns, which I have fired, nor do I have a problem with shotguns or hunting rifles. But an AK-47, MAC-10, M-16 or even an Uzi, are not hunting weapons.
No, but you are an ignorant fool. New AK-47s, MAC-10s, M-16s and Uzis are also illegal to own in this country. Their semi-automatic variants (which function identically to most hunting rifles) merely look like AK-47s, MAC-10s, M-16s and Uzis. And that is all the ban affected.
March 24th, 2006 at 12:23 am
The only thing that worries me about using the tactic of “real, fully automatic assault rifles are already illegal to own” is that someday I would like to get rid of this damned 1986 ban. If we legitimize the stigmatization of machine guns, I don’t think this will ever be a political reality. Maybe it’s already too late though.
March 24th, 2006 at 12:24 am
I don’t disagree because I’d like the 86 ban gone too. But lies is lies.
March 24th, 2006 at 12:30 am
There are lots of private citizens that legally own fully automatic weapons in this country. In many states they are not illegal.
March 24th, 2006 at 10:17 am
There are lots of private citizens that legally own fully automatic weapons in this country.
Sure, you can own them if you’re rich. Because of the 1986 ban on registration of new transferrable machine guns, the prices for NFA weapons are through the roof; beyond the means of normal Joes. My friend went through all the NFA stuff for a submachine gun back when stuff was more affordable. I wish I had.
March 24th, 2006 at 11:41 am
I’m sending a letter to the editor under the subject “website error”. 😉
March 24th, 2006 at 12:12 pm
Here’s what I sent. Think it will get published?
“After reading Ryan Donohue’s article “Rap not responsible for violence”, I was surprised at the number of factual errors it contained concerning firearms. I’ll list them in bullet (no pun intended) format:
– The assault weapons ban of 1994 did not make it “illegal for gun manufactures to make and sell automatic weapons”. Automatic weapons have been tightly controlled since 1934, and illegal to manufacture in the US since 1986.
– Uzi’s, M-16’s, Mac-10’s , etc., fall into the realm of machine guns (AKA “automatic weapons”) and are therefore already tightly controlled, and virtually unobtainable to the average law abiding citizen. Mr. Donohue seemed to imply they were readily available.
The bottom line is, the assault weapons ban mentioned in the article only pertained to what could best be described as “replicas” of military style automatic weapons. They can and are used for hunting, target and recreational shooting. They merely look scary and remind us of the last shoot-em-up Hollywood movie we saw on TV.
It’s a shame these misconceptions continue to plague us, because I do agree with Mr. Donohue’s final comment. It is time to start focusing on the causes of these horrible crimes rather than demonizing their after-effects. Or, in this case, firearms.”
Thankya, thankyaverramuch.