"The truth is rifles make up a very small percentage of gun crime in America, assault rifles make up even a smaller percentage of that crime, and the law itself is kind of silly"
/|
Joining Inside Story Americas, with presenter Shihab Rattansi, are guests: Adam Winkler, a constitutional law professor at the University of California and author of the book Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America; David Hemenway, a professor of health policy at Harvard University; and Robyn Thomas, the executive director of the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. "I don't think this was a particularly wise proposal on the part of the administration or democratic senators. I think they should have invested their time, focus ... on universal background checks, which is a meaningful reform that will make a big difference. The truth is rifles make up a very small percentage of gun crime in America, assault rifles make up even a smaller percentage of that crime, and the law itself is kind of silly. It bans firearms that are semi-automatic, that have a detachable magazine, and one or more military style characteristic, like a pistol grip or a folding buttstock, but you can sell the exact same weapon, with the exact same lethality, so as long as it doesn't have the pistol grip or the folding buttstock, those are cosmetic features, and they are not going to have a serious impact on gun policy." - Adam Winkler, a constitutional law professor at the University of California |
