Within the span of one week, a pair of mass shootings rocked Atlanta, Georgia and Boulder, Colorado, bringing an outpouring of mourning and reigniting the debate over one of the most incendiary political issues: firearms in America. Almost immediately after the shooting in Boulder, renewed calls for gun control came from prominent Democratic politicians. These included President Joe Biden, who called for a ban on so-called ‘assault weapons’ and closing loopholes related to the purchase of firearms. While enacting these policies is often touted as ‘common sense’, the reality of gun control is far different. As a matter of fact, when consideration is given to the origins of the Second Amendment, its breadth, the history of firearms in America and the implications of their restriction, the idea of heavy-handed gun control becomes quite senseless.
Oftentimes, the nature of the Second Amendment itself is the first item drawn into question by advocates of strict gun control. Many point to the text itself to make the claim that the amendment merely covers “well regulated militias” rather than an uninfringeable right to keep and bear arms. A closer examination of the Founders’ thoughts on firearms demonstrates that this is clearly untrue. George Mason summarized it best when he rhetorically asked “who are the militia,” answering with “the whole people.” In his drafts of the Virginia Constitution, Thomas Jefferson wrote that “No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms.” Jefferson’s writings are not unusual, as the other state constitutions drafted at the time include protections of the right to bear arms, including Vermont’s which declares “that the people have a right to bear arms for the defense of themselves and the state.” Considering the thoughts of the Founders and the context in which the Second Amendment was conceived, there can be no doubt that the right to keep and bear arms was indeed the amendment’s intent.
The next question is the extent to which weapons are covered under the Second Amendment. In the aftermath of the Boulder Shooting, Joe Biden justified his renewed efforts for gun control by stating that “no amendment is absolute.” Setting aside the troubling implications of this statement for a moment, it is clear that Biden and his supporters believe that the Second Amendment does not cover certain types of firearms. This assumption is flawed on its face as it suggests that the Founders had no conception of technological development and could not have anticipated the development of modern firearms. As a matter of fact, various innovative weapons including the rotary magazine Puckle Gun and repeating arms such as the Belton Flintlock and later Girandoni Air Rifle. Evidently, the Second Amendment does not merely apply to flintlocks as some gun control proponents claim. Further, considering that flintlocks were the foremost weapons in the era the Second Amendment was written, the amendment would apply in the same weapon to common firearms in the present, just as the First Amendment applies to both the quill pen and the smartphone.
Of course, the most widely owned rifle in America is the basis of many complaints concerning the breadth of the Second Amendment; the dreaded AR-15 and its derivatives. The AR-15 and similar rifles are touted as “weapons of war” and “assault weapons” by gun control proponents, who argue that they are disproportionately deadly and most commonly used in mass shootings. These terms are inherently misleading. Assault rifle is a military classification referring to a rifle which fires an intermediate cartridge. While AR-15 utilizes a .223 caliber cartridge, which is intermediate, it is not a true select-fire assault rifle, and has not been used by the military in any significant capacity. The AR-15 is semi-automatic, each time the trigger is squeezed, one round is expended. On the other hand, the term “assault weapon” is pure fiction, formulated as a matter of categorizing firearms by such superficial features as pistol grips and detachable magazines, features not inherent only to rifles like the AR-15. The Ruger Mini-14, for instance, is also semi-automatic, is chambered in .223, and has a detachable magazine. Unlike the AR-15, the Ruger has no pistol grip, and lacks the common black carbon appearance which renders the AR-15 frightening or military-esque in appearance.
Appearances and technicalities aside, the AR-15 is not in fact the weapon of mass murder as commonly portrayed by the media. FBI crime statistics reveal that, despite firearms being used in 10,265 homicides in 2018, rifles, including the AR-15, were only used in 297. By contrast, blunt objects were used in 443 homicides, while cutting instruments were used in 1,515. Even when taking mass shootings into consideration, handguns once again eclipse firearms, being used in 95 mass shootings between 1982 and 2021, while rifles were used in 48. Despite its reputation, the statistical evidence demonstrates that the AR-15 and weapons like it are neither disproportionately responsible for mass shootings, nor homicides with firearms generally.
Even when measures have been taken to restrict ownership of superficially designated ‘assault weapons’, they have proven entirely ineffective. In 1994, the Assault Weapons Ban prohibited the manufacture and importation of specific weapons that included AR-15s and similar rifles, along with magazines containing more than ten rounds. Over the course of its ten years, the Assault Weapons Ban saw no discernible reduction in firearms crime, and 16 mass shootings, including the infamous Columbine Shooting in which one shooter used a Tec-9, a firearm prohibited under the act which he was too young to have purchased himself. It is doubtful that similar legislation would prove any more effective.
In the wake of this legislative failure and others, the logical conclusion has been reached by some gun control advocates, Robert Francis O’Rourke among them, that only a gun confiscation, or at least a confiscation of “your AR-15s, your AK-47s” will suffice. In doing so, they would be following in the footsteps of history’s worst tyrants. The Soviet Union mandated that citizens turn in their firearms in 1918, Cuba in 1959, and more recently, Venezuela in 2012, which ironically has skyrocketing crime despite its restrictions. This is the true end of strict gun control: a populace which is passive and has no significant means to defend against government repression. If, as President Biden maintains, “no amendment is absolute,” once the Second Amendment falls, those other ‘non-absolute’ amendments will be open to restriction, or worse.
There are indeed reasonable precautions to be taken with firearms. While valuable tools, firearms are still weapons to be treated with the utmost care. Indeed, many laws are already on the books to prevent guns from falling into the hands of felons and the mentally ill. Rather than rendering the populace defenseless, perhaps the best thing to do is to enforce these existing laws and educate the public about firearms in the way individuals are educated about their other civil rights.