Posted on 05/25/2022 11:56:25 AM PDT by Kaslin
"In New York," former Gov. Andrew Cuomo bragged on Sunday, "we passed the best (gun control) laws in the nation." Although those laws manifestly did not prevent the mass shooting that killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket on May 14, Cuomo thinks the answer is more legislation of the same sort.
Cuomo mentioned a federal "assault weapon" ban, and other politicians have responded to the Buffalo massacre by calling for expanded background checks and more aggressive enforcement of "red flag" laws that aim to disarm dangerous people. But those policies are fundamentally ill-suited to stopping would-be mass murderers from carrying out their plans.
The Buffalo shooter legally bought the Bushmaster XM-15 rifle he used in the attack from a gun dealer in Endicott, New York. According to the online manifesto that police attributed to the attacker, the rifle did not qualify as an "assault weapon" in New York at that point because it had been fitted with a fixed magazine.
The shooter easily reversed that modification so the gun could accept detachable magazines, and he reportedly used magazines that exceeded New York's 10-round limit. Although that change had practical implications, other workarounds allow New Yorkers to legally buy and own AR-15-style rifles like the Bushmaster XM-15 that are functionally identical to prohibited models.
As long as a rifle has none of the military-style features that New York prohibits (such as a pistol grip, a threaded barrel or a bayonet mount), it is not an "assault weapon," even if it accepts detachable magazines. Such "featureless" rifles are perfectly legal in New York, even though they fire the same ammunition at the same rate with the same muzzle velocity as the banned models.
That is the basic problem with "assault weapon" bans: They define the category based on functionally unimportant features, leaving mass shooters with plenty of equally lethal alternatives, including the handguns they overwhelmingly prefer. While Cuomo thinks a federal ban could be effective if it also covered "large capacity" magazines, which come standard with many guns, millions of such magazines would remain in circulation.
The Buffalo shooter passed a background check when he bought his rifle because he did not have a disqualifying criminal or psychiatric record, which is typically true of mass shooters. According to a recent National Institute of Justice report on public mass shootings from 1966 through 2019, just 13% of the perpetrators obtained weapons through illegal transactions.
Even theoretically, a federal law requiring background checks for private gun transfers, as New York already does, would not pose an obstacle for the vast majority of mass shooters. And in a country where civilians own more than 400 million firearms, a would-be killer with a disqualifying record would not have much trouble finding a source willing to flout that rule, as gun owners routinely do in states that notionally require "universal background checks."
On the face of it, it seems more plausible that New York's red flag law could have stopped the Buffalo shooter if only it had been properly applied. After all, he was reported to state police as a high school senior last June because he mentioned murder in a written response to a question about his post-graduation plans.
The shooter successfully passed that off as a sick joke, and it may yet turn out that a more thorough investigation would have cast doubt on that explanation. But even fellow students who had known him for years apparently did not view him as a threat.
Predicting violence is much harder than supporters of red flag laws often imply. Psychiatrists are notoriously bad at it, and people who display what might look like "red flags" almost never commit crimes like this one.
Casting a wider net might or might not help prevent such attacks, but it certainly would ensnare many innocent people who do not actually pose a danger. When it comes to gun control, that is a perennial pitfall.
Wow, I love this article.
Dunno if it applies in this case, but one of the best things I can think of is to report the criminal behavior of minors. If it is on the record, then there is a chance that they will be stopped from purchasing a firearm.
So what’s the solution?
Here’s what I Figure:
Incentivize solid and responsible citizens to be conncealed carry. I’m thinking people like teachers, nurses, merchants, bus drivers, small contractors, etc. You would offer these people salary bonuses and other freebies, and you would require a high degree of screening and training.
This would stop most of these assualtws early, long before the cops can get there, before you have 20 dead. And in prevent many others, by greatly lessening the probability of a specatular massacre and thus reducing the incentive.
What do you guys figure?
The only plausable solution is to allow all citizens to carry their own firearm anytime, anywhere for ones own defense. Kinda like what the second ammendment says.
Harden every public school in the US and use the tax payer’s money to do that with the money that those in DC would otherwise use for their own armed personal protection and as well would otherwise loot or give to other countries in order to loot it.
OR .... we could cancel the constitution instead.
Most institutions have armed security, why wouldn't schools? It's common sense.
Right - most schools around here have done a good job using a single entrance (all other doors are exit only) and visitors must ring in for permission to enter then wait for a lock release or someone to open the door. I prefer the double door entry booth so a perp could be trapped.
Because leftists say things like "seeing a gun would traumatize the children, they'll need counseling!' and legislatures go along with that absurdity.
Never argue common sense with a leftist. They get through thoughts delivered to them from the legacy media and twitter, they can't fathom any other thoughts.
And being in a Red Permitless State, where people don’t carry in an Affluent suburb in a county where Cops not wanted, Is DUMB. Disgruntled third party ASIAN, opened fire with a AR 15, mostly senior shoppers, about 10 killed. Collierville, TN. He shot himself. Memphis is a S.Hole of a Blue City. Effects the whole of Shelby Co.
Glad we moved to the next county, but I still carry. Crazies travel.
With the obvious retort, it's less traumatizing then watching your classmates get shot.
Here’s what all these murderers have in common:
They’re insane.
Will anybody ever post how many mass shooters this country has had in the past 100 years VERSUS the 2020 CENSUS????
Feel free to include the St Valentine’s Day mob antics.
The definition of “mass shootings” has also changed over the years. Now IIRC it includes 3 injured at a drug deal gone bad.
Same goes for trying to compare other crimes to other countries. Not exactly sure, but in the USA “sexual assault” includes unwanted touching, whereas in France “sexual assault” is for actual rape.
Just fire up the Pre-Crime Unit. What can possibly go wrong?
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