Obama Wants to Constrain Second Amendment Rights

After the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban expired a decade later, Congress has realized the inherent flaws that the bill had. Many congressmen and senators fought bitterly over the renewal of the ban and it has ultimately stayed dormant up until the recent 2008 election. Senator John McCain was against the ban from the get go. He said that the ban was unnecessary and a misappropriation of tax dollars. On the other hand, President Elect Barack Obama's actions indicated that this ban was an important step in stopping gang and other forms of organized violence.
The main issue that seems to be impeding upon the ban’s renewal is the fact that Assault Weapons are only used in a small minority of crimes. The FBI released some data regarding the use of Assault Weapons in 2001.


Some important facts:


Fact: Only 1.4% of recovered crime weapons are models covered under
the 1994 assault weapons ban.2

Fact: The ban covered only 1.39% of the models of firearms on the market;
therefore so the bans effectiveness is automatically constrained.

Fact: "The ban has failed to reduce the average number of victims per gun
murder incident or multiple gunshot wound victims.”3

Fact: The classification scheme used encompassed almost all firearms sold
in the U.S. since 1987 (center fire rifles and shotguns holding more than six
cartridges, and handguns holding more than 10 rounds). The proposed ban
included Olympic marksmanship rifles and quail hunting shotguns. By inventing
a new definition for “assault weapons”, they created a problem from
where no problem existed.
Fact: Only 8% of criminals use anything that is classified (even incorrectly)
as an assault weapon.5

Fact: "Assault rifles have never been an issue in law enforcement. I have
been on this job for 25 years and I haven't seen a drug dealer carry one.
They are not used in crimes, they are not used against police officers."4

Fact: "Since police started keeping statistics, we now know that assault
weapons are/were used in an underwhelming 0.026 of 1% of crimes in New
Jersey. This means that my officers are more likely to confront an escaped
tiger from the local zoo than to confront an assault rifle in the hands of a
drug-crazed killer on the streets."4


1 S.C. Helsley, Assistant Director DOJ Investigation and Enforcement Branch, California, October 31,1988
2 From statewide recovery report from Connecticut (1988-1993) and Pennsylvania (1989-1994)
3 “Impacts of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban: 1994-96”, National Institute of Justice, March 1999
4 Deputy Chief of Police Joseph Constance, Trenton NJ, Senate Judiciary Committee, Aug 1993
5 Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Firearm Use by Offenders”, November 2001


With these facts in mind, the assault weapons ban can clearly be viewed as another misappropriation of federal tax dollars.
But it does end here. Obama also made a strong point to repeal the Tiahrt Amendment. “Since 2003, the Tiahrt Amendment has been an amendment to the Department of Justice appropriations bill. It prohibits the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) from releasing gun trace data to the public. It does not prevent access to gun trace data to law enforcement organizations in the course of a criminal investigation. The data had been used by lawyers to fuel lawsuits by localities against firearm dealers. In the process, they had also endangered ongoing investigations.” (Gun Law News)


To be even more specific:


From the 2006 H.R.2862:


That no funds appropriated under this or any other Act with respect to any fiscal year may be used to disclose part or all of the contents of the Firearms Trace System database maintained by the National Trace Center of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives or any information required to be kept by licensees pursuant to section 923(g) of title 18, United States Code, or required to be reported pursuant to paragraphs (3) and (7) of such section 923(g), to anyone other than a Federal, State, or local law enforcement agency or a prosecutor solely in connection with and for use in a bona fide criminal investigation or prosecution and then only such information as pertains to the geographic jurisdiction of the law enforcement agency requesting the disclosure and not for use in any civil action or proceeding other than an action or proceeding commenced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or a review of such an action or proceeding, to enforce the provisions of chapter 44 of such title, and all such data shall be immune from legal process and shall not be subject to subpoena or other discovery in any civil action in a State or Federal court or in any administrative proceeding other than a proceeding commenced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to enforce the provisions of that chapter, or a review of such an action or proceeding; except that this proviso shall not be construed to prevent the disclosure of statistical information concerning total production, importation, and exportation by each licensed importer (as defined in section 921(a)(9) of such title) and licensed manufacturer (as defined in section 921(a)(10) of such title):


Going back to the simple summary, Obama wants to allow the ATF to release gun trace data to the public. This will result in an influx of frivolous lawsuits and a general endangerment of ongoing investigations.


According to CNN, Obama also wants to permanently reinstate the assault weapons ban that expired on September 13th, 2004. As proven above, this ban is a useless waste of money that simply infringes the second amendment rights of all Americans. In fact, “the ban triggered speculative price increases and ramped-up production of the banned firearms.”(RKBA)

In conclusion, President Elect Obama as some serious thinking to do. This is only one of many issues where Obama fails to see the underlying problems and plausible solutions. If he is really about “Change,” then he needs to start soon. Otherwise, the next four years are going to be turbulent times.



Sources:
Gun Law News: http://www.gunlawnews.org/Analysis/tiahrt062607-3.html
RKBA: http://rkba.org/research/smith/AWBrief.pdf
CNN: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/issues/issues.gun.html