The Right to Assault. The Need to Reinstate the Federal Assault Weapon Ban

ABSTRACT:

This study examines the social issues involved with soft gun control policies in the United States with a specific focus on assault weapons and LCM's (large capacity magazines). Using scholarly articles I will highlight the magnitude of the problem, those affected and the costs of the issue. I will show just cause as to why the United States needs to reinstate the federal assault weapon ban and suggest solutions to the over all problem. For the purpose of this study "Assault Weapon" means any gun that is considered to be a semi-automatic and "LCM's" are magazines capable of caring more then 10 rounds. Over 30,000 people die in the United States from gun violence. The ease of obtaining guns, the war on drugs, impoverished neighborhoods, the economy, all are major factors in why this social problem still exists. I will show solutions to solving this problem to help reduce the number of lives taken by gun violence.

INTRODUCTION:

Why is it the United States Federal Assault Weapons ban, which expired on September 13th 2004 has not been renewed? Since the ban expired, "750 people have been shot by assault weapons..., 350 of them killed" according to California Assemblyman Mike Feuer in an article on asmdc.org. On July 20th 2012, James Holmes, a graduate student at the University of Colorado kicked in the backdoor of the Century 16 Multiplex. He shot 60 people, killing 12 and wounding 58. Holmes weapon of choice was an assault rifle. As a filmmaker this tragedy struck home. Not only where the victims, friends and family members lives shattered by this violent crime, the film community was affected as well. This horrific crime may not have occurred if assault weapons were still banned in the U.S.

In this proposal I will assemble an annotated bibliography of eight sources, three of them will be cross-national. I will show how the banning of assault weapons in other countries affected their communities and highlight the ways in which they were able to ban such weapons. I will do a sociological analysis by identifying the causes, factors and problems in regard to the lapse of the Federal Assault Weapons ban and show just cause as to why it is crucial that we reinstate it.

I will share my findings by writing a twenty page report discussing the issue and identifying the problem and solutions. I will then perform a four-minute presentation in front of my sociology class explaining why this issue needs attention.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY: INTRODUCTION:

With the recent mass killings in the United States by persons using assault weapons, such as the shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007, Cupertino Quarry in 2011, and the infamous Colorado massacres that occurred in a movie theatre In 2012 in Aurora; the need to reinstate the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons ban is obvious. Using the library at GSU and online databases, I searched for scholarly articles to review gun policies in the United States and abroad. I also searched for articles that had statistics in the amount of guns circulating within specific countries as well as what is being done about the influx of assault weapons and guns within the U.S. I will also discuss the lack of a right to bear arms in many countries and how it has added to the initiation of corrupted gun programs internationally.

Comparing 8 sources I will prove that the U.S is the leader among nations in the total amount of guns circulating throughout the nation and how it affects the gun market in the U.S. I will discuss how the vote for the ban is swayed by politicians depending upon the beliefs of their constitutes and Using information from articles that compare foreign countries such as the Uganda & the Balkans in regards to how they deal with the controlling the influx of small gun to their nations as well as the gun markets in the U.S. I will discuss how the United Nations support of certain foreign gun policies has been instrumental in the fueling fire to already existing corrupted gun policies.

Sharpe, Mike. "Violent Nation."Challenge (05775132) 54.2 (2011): 122. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.

In his article "Violent Nation", Mike Sharpe talks about how the United States is the leader of all nations in the total amount of guns circulating throughout the nation. He takes us back to when Europeans disposed the Indians of land by the use of guns. How the idea of "Manifest Destiny" was accomplished with the use of guns. He also speaks about the wars, the KKK, the slave trade and the military all requiring the use of guns to suppress civilians and conquer a nation. Sharpe makes an excellent point about the creation of the NRA was to protect the use of guns in such military means but was not created to protect the use of guns for recreation use as it is known by today. The NRA is an advocate of keeping guns legal and fight against any bills that arise in congress that threaten to ban guns. This article ties in to the social problem I wish to discuss because it shows how guns were at a time a necessity to build a nation, now they are tearing our nation apart. He even speaks to how Europe and Asia have gotten out of the gun business so that they can keep a stronger nation and not have it weakened by useless acts of gun violence. One of my main arguments for the need to re-enact the federal assault ban is because of the rising rate of useless acts of gun violence in the U.S.

Webster, Daniel W et. al. "The Case for Gun Policy Reforms in America."John Hopkins Bloomberg School Of Public Health (2012): 1-19. John Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research. Web. 4 Nov. 2012.

In this report by John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, statistics of the amount of deaths that occur due to gun violence, assault weapon crimes, injuries and the effects on communities and families are highlighted. The research document argues for stronger ownership restrictions, regulations on background checks and a ban on assault weapons. "More than 31,000 people a year in the United States die from gunshot wounds." The report includes

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