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September/October 2022 LEGAL NOTES

I wrote an article years ago on the Second Amendment. However, my current commentary is on a Second Amendment issue that stays at the forefront of news and media, and there has been a lot more reporting on the subject since my last article All that being said, I want to look at the issue of “assault rifles” otherwise known as the AR-15. First, the term “assault rifle” is a misnomer. What is referred to as an assault rifle is not a true automatic rifle like a machine gun. The trigger has to be pulled for every shot fired, so it functions just as any legal pistol, shotgun, or rifle. I think that 100% of the reason it was given the nickname “assault rifle” is its appearance. The AR in AR-15 stands for “Armalite Rifle” and not assault rifle. (source Wikipedia). The fact that you can apply a 20-30 round clip to an AR is also the source of controversy. However, you can apply a 30-round clip to a 22 rifle, a .17 cal., and a whole host of other popular hunting rifles. I am certainly not lost on the fact that AR rifles have been used in the last several years to commit atrocities such as Sandy Hook, Uvalde, and Buffalo as well as others. These have been gut-wrenching stories that stir up incredible sadness and heartbreak in any normal human being. With these tragedies comes the famous mantra, “We must ban all assault rifles,” or even worse, we must ban “all guns.” Consider the issue of what homicides are being committed by “assault rifles” as compared to other causes of death in American lives every year and then how Americans tolerate these other causes of death. You have heard the old adage, “There are lies! There are damn lies! And then there are statistics!” Well, let’s look at some statistics that are mostly reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). • An average of 380,000 people in this country die each year from tobacco-related causes. I have seen a family member die from having lung cancer, and it was torturous. • There are 300,000 deaths every year in America due to obesity. • An average of 95,000 deaths due to alcohol occur in America every year. • There are over 100,000 deaths from prescription drugs every year in the United States. • There are 43,000 deaths each year in the United States due to auto accidents. • There are 45,000 deaths each year in the United States due to guns. Of this number, 24,000 are from suicide and 21,000 are from homicide. The FBI does not break down the homicides by rifles and shotguns versus pistols very well. It is believed the majority of gun-related homicides are by pistols. However, if we are talking of a mass shooting, the data is good for this. A mass shooting is defined as the death of four or more persons by shooting. As we know, the majority of mass shootings in the last several years were committed with ARs. Reader’s Digest just came out with a report on mass shootings, and the report states that “1449 people have been killed in mass shootings between 1966 and 2020.” If you assumed this was the number for the last ten years (which is when most of the mass shootings have occurred), then you are talking 144 deaths a year by mass shooting and primarily with an AR. When I consider some of the above statistics, I have to think that the AR rifle is not nearly as much of a problem as other issues pointed out but not addressed by our government. For example, we actually subsidize tobacco farmers to plant so they can kill 380,000 people a year. Another factor that is never considered in all of the Second Amendment debates is this: Studies have conclusively shown that every year Americans use their guns to protect themselves from serious violence. Americans defend themselves annually anywhere from 500,000 to 1,500,000 times. The utility of guns, then, greatly outweighs the detriment. Automobiles kill right at the same number of Americans annually, but the utility of vehicles greatly outweighs the detriment, so thus we continue their use. The same is true for guns. Our founding fathers were truly brilliant men and knew exactly what they were doing when they incorporated into the Constitution of the United States that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” The founders understood the nature of men and the nature of government run by men. To steal a little portion of a speech by Winston Churchill, “Never, Never, Never give up your right to keep and bear arms.”

by Lucien C. Gwin III

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