Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Our federal government, and specifically Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate, have failed to pass legislation to ban assault weapons, as the Violent Crime Control Enforcement Act signed by then-President Bill Clinton in 1994 and expired in 2004.
A 2019 study looked at mass shootings for the period of 1981 through 2017, and found that fatalities were 70% less likely to occur during the ban period.
During the ban, there were 16 mass shootings. During the 10 years thereafter, mass shootings almost doubled to 31. From 2015 through 2022, there were 53.
Now, in only the first month of this year, there were 52 mass shootings.
Like former President Barack Obama, who in response to the mass killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School attempted to pass legislation to ban assault weapons, President Joe Biden did the same in response to the mass killings in Uvalde, Texas, only for Republicans to vote in block against the ban.
Numbers don’t lie and compared to the ban period, we are faced with mass shootings on an epidemic scale.
Purchasing more guns will only exacerbate the problem. Therefore, as we hunker down in our homes to avoid this epidemic, let us be vigilant in our efforts in crime prevention by identifying every member of the House and Senate who receives donations from the National Rifle Association and engage in a national letter-writing campaign demanding that they either vote for an assault weapons ban or face expulsion.