Recently, the second amendment has become one of the most debatable political topics in our country. With mass murders happening in our country, it is no surprise that people want to blame the guns they use as the problem. However, they choose not to look past the gun that the shooters use and look towards the actual shooter themselves. Assault rifles are extremely misunderstood in today's world. The purchase and sale of assault rifles should not be banned for multiple reasons. The first is people with mental problems use assault rifles as their guns when shooting many people. Also, the second amendment says people have the right to bear arms.  Next, crime rate is not related to the amount of guns in the country, and people will buy assault rifles regardless of the law. Following that, most murders from guns are suicides. Lastly, assault rifles are semi-automatic not fully automatic, and assault rifles are not military grade.

People always blame the gun that a shooter uses to justify the damage done to the innocent. In truth those who mass murder people often times have a record of mental illness. Author Eric Morgan speaks about the shootings in the United States, "Patrick Purdy killed himself, and it remains far easier to damn the inanimate objects that he left behind than to cope with the general social problems surrounding such incidents or the more specific criminality of a disturbed individual" (Eric Morgan 143). For society, Morgan realizes it is easier to blame the inanimate objects rather than the social problems or the criminality of a disturbed individual. Morgan showed that the individual committing these shootings shot himself after and clearly had a mental issue or problems with his life, and society blamed the gun itself, the assault rifle, instead. Hendrik Hertzberg speaks about the Sandy Hook Shootings, " ... the No. 1 cause of gun violence is a shortage of guns. (The No. 2 cause, presumably, is a surplus of people, since people, not guns, kill people)" (Hertzberg n.p.). Hertzberg, like Morgan, also realizes that the number two cause of violence with guns is that people kill people, not the guns. He also points out the popular belief that the number one cause of gun violence is a shortage of guns. Victoria Bekiempis from Newsweek states, "Every year, about 42.5 million American adults (or 18.2 percent of the total adult population in the United States) suffers from some mental illness, enduring conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia ... " (Bekiempis n.p.). This is roughly every one in five American citizens. We have already seen what these mentally ill can do with an assault rifle, and it leads to the deaths of innocents, such as the case with the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings. There is no point to ban assault rifles just because some sick person chose that as their weapon to kill many people. 

People have scrutinized the meaning of the second amendment when it says the right to bear arms. In order for the people to be free, the people themselves must also be free (Cress). Cress wrote a book about the views of the second amendment between different states in 1984. The statement made saying that in order for the people to be free they themselves must be free reflects on the meaning of the second amendment itself. There is nothing in the second amendment itself that states that individuals don't have the right to bear arms. Richard Perez-Pena states the common opposition to gun control laws, 

A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Gun rights advocates say that means an individual right to gun possession, while gun control advocates say it means the people's collective right, through a militia. (Perez-Pena n.p.) 

Perez-Pena points out that the right of the people to bear arms shouldn't be infringed upon and that individuals who support gun rights feel that the second amendment allows the individual the right to possess a gun. The NRA speaks about the second amendment, 

The Second Amendment protects the right to semi-automatic firearms and magazines designed for self-defense. In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the first case ever in which the Supreme Court was asked to rule on whether the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms for defensive purposes, the court ruled that historically the inherent right of self-defense has been central to the Second Amendment right' and that the amendment guarantees the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation. (NRA-ILA n.p.) 

The court case between Heller and the District of Columbia decided that individuals do possess the right to own assault rifles if used for self-defense in case of confrontation. They also ruled that it was unconstitutional to ban these weapons. These all show evidence that it is unconstitutional to ban assault rifles in general. 

A third reason why assault rifles should not be banned from purchase or sale is that crime rates have no relation to the amount of guns in the country. Jacob Davidson writes about one of the misconceptions about gun control. He states, 

 ... we need to remember that we've have had a remarkable decrease in violent crime and gun crime in the U.S. since the early 1990s, even though the number of firearms has increased by about 10 million every year. There's no simple correspondence between the number of firearms in private hands and the amount of gun crime, and I often find it somewhat strange that there seems to be a perception that things are worse than ever when, in reality, things are really better than they've been for decades. (Davidson n.p.)

Davidson speaks about how gun crime in the United States has decreased even though the purchase of firearms has increased by about 10 million guns per year. The National Rifle Association speaks about crime rates and assault rifles. They said, 

As the numbers of 'assault weapons' and 'large' magazines have soared to all-time highs, violent crime has been cut in half. The nation's total violent crime rate peaked in 1991. Since then, through 2012, it has decreased 49%, to a 42-year low, including a 52% drop in the nation's murder rate, to a 49-year low -- perhaps the lowest point in American history. (NRA-ILA n.p.) 

The NRA use these statistics to show that crime is dropping more than people realize, and the cause of this drop is the amount of assault rifles. The NRA speaks about how assault rifles are not actually used in most murders; 

So-called 'assault weapons' have never been used in more than a small percentage of firearm-related violent crime. The study that Congress required of the federal 'assault weapon' and 'large' magazine ban of 1994-2004 concluded that 'the banned weapons and magazines were never used in more than a modest fraction of all gun murders' even before the ban, and that the law's 10-round limit on new ammunition magazines wasn't a factor in multiple-victim or multiple-wound crimes. (NRA-ILA n.p.) 

The facts continue with a release of a study on the 1994 ban on assault rifles and large magazine weapons. They found that the banned weapons actually were not responsible for the majority of deaths in our country. The police of our country even realized that the assault rifles were not in the majority of crimes. The NRA says, "Police reports and felon surveys have found that "assault weapons" are used in only 1%-2% of violent crimes" (NRA-ILA n.p.). The reports showed that 1 to 2 percent of violent crimes were assault rifles, which means 98 percent were not caused by assault rifles. People believe that if they ban assault weapons that crime will decrease, however, it already has started to decrease with the rise of guns. 

Even if a ban was put into place in our country, people will still find ways to purchase and sell assault rifles for use. Jacob Davidson speaks on the possibility of background checks. He states, "There's no universal registry of firearms, so if the police were to arrest somebody and try to prosecute whoever sold them their gun without the required check, there's no way to verify who the seller was or when the sale took place (Davidson n.p.). Davidson speaks about how the cops have no way of finding out if the guns sold were legal or who sold them to the new owners. The fact that people are getting a hold of assault rifles and other guns, and the cops have no idea whether they are legal or not, proves that banning assault rifles would do nothing about lowering the amount of guns in the United States. Davidson also makes a point about inmates achieving assault rifles and other guns. He states, "Another problem with background checks is surveys of inmates show overwhelmingly that criminals obtain guns on the black market or the grey market. Almost no prison inmates say they went to a licensed dealer and filled out forms" (Davidson n.p.). Daniel Abrams also speaks on the matter of registration of assault rifles; "Registration laws are also difficult to enforce absent a herculean effort, and are generally ineffective as crime-fighting tools. Consequently, crime reduction per se may be an unrealistic goal of registration legislation" (Abrams 497). Just registering the guns is not going to be effective at all, and even Abrams said that crime reduction might be an unrealistic goal. If inmates are able to find guns on the black market and skip going to a licensed dealer, that doesn't mean it would stop any civilian from doing so themselves. Whether or not a ban was in place, guns can be found, bought, and sold legally or illegally, making the country just as dangerous as if there was no bad at all.

Most people believe that most of the killings with guns are murders, when in truth, the majority of deaths caused by guns are actually suicides. Jacob Davidson speaks out on another misconception about guns. He explains, 

People should also be aware that most gun-related deaths are suicides, not murders. There are twice as many suicides in the U.S. by guns as there are homicides and I think most people find that very surprising. Over and over again one reads that 30,000 people have been killed with guns, but what's not said is that 20,000 of them took their own lives. (Davidson n.p.) 

Davidson's writing opens the eyes to many readers and shows them that they have been deceived by the media. The only thing the media tells us about gun deaths are the homicides and the death tolls, however they leave out the fact that two thirds of them are actually suicides. 

A major misconception about assault rifles in our country is that they are fully automatic weapons that shoot as long as you hold down the trigger. However, the NRA explains the difference, "Semi-automatic firearms are not fully-automatic military machine guns ... The difference is that a fully-automatic firearm can fire repeatedly and quickly as long as you hold down the trigger, but a semi-automatic, like any firearm other than a fully-automatic, fires only once when you pull the trigger" (NRA-ILA n.p.). If this is the case, then people should ban hand guns too while they are at it. In fact, the NRA explains, "Semi-automatic firearms are not 'more powerful' than other guns ...  So-called 'assault weapons' are much less powerful than many rifles used to hunt deer and other large game" (NRA-ILA n.p.). If assault rifles aren't even as powerful as a rifle used for sport in hunting then hunting as a sport should be banned too. That statement sounds ridiculous, and yet it makes sense to ban assault rifles. Eugene Volockh explains his view about assault rifles;

Assault weapons aren't fully automatic; they are semiautomatics, like many tens of millions of other guns out there. They aren't unusually powerful  --  "assault rifles" are generally more powerful than handguns, because generally rifles are more powerful than handguns, but many ordinary hunting rifles (such as a .30-06) are more powerful than many assault weapons (such as the .223s that were used in the San Bernardino, Calif., shooting). (Volockh n.p.)

Volockh shows that assault rifles are misunderstood when actually they are like millions of other guns out there. He shows that they aren't as powerful as a lot of other guns, and they fire semi-automatically. All of this is due to the fear created by the media about the shootings that occur in our country.

The last misconception and point is that assault rifles are actually military grade weapons of war. In truth they are actually less harmful than a lot of other weapons. The NRA speaks out on the misbelief of gun ban supporters. They said, 

Gun control supporters say that semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15 are military-style assault weapons designed for war on the battlefield. To the contrary, the military uses fully-automatic rifles, which are regulated as machineguns by the National Firearms Act of 1934. (NRA-ILA n.p.) 

My Aunt and Uncle actually own an AR-15 and I have shot the weapon itself. It is semi-automatic, and doesn't fire like a machine gun. Davidson points out the looks of a military grade machine gun weapon. He said, 

What makes an assault weapon different than a regular rifle are the cosmetic military-like features, such as a bayonet mount or pistol grip and so forth, none of which have functional significance. Assault weapons are not more powerful, they do not shoot more bullets, and they do not shoot faster. We would not be a safer society if we could eliminate all of the assault weapons because people could substitute for them non-assault weapons that are exactly the same. (Davidson n.p.) 

Davidson hits the nail on the head with this statement. Military grade weapons have all the cosmetics to them, whereas the assault rifle is just a standard semi-automatic gun that doesn't have any different perks from a standard pistol. Davidson is correct when he says that we cannot be a safer society if we eliminated all the assault rifles because in truth, the shooters can easily sub in any weapon of their choosing and do as much or greater damage to the innocent people of our country. Adam Winkler, a supporter of the assault rifle ban himself, states, "The "assault weapons" for sale in the U.S. now aren't really weapons of war" (Winkler n.p.). Winkler is a liberal, and he still knows that assault rifles aren't actually military grade weapons that are used in war overseas, but are actually standard weapons sold in the United States.

Peter van Uhm speaks about why he chose a gun as his instrument of peace during his TED talk; 

I stand here today to tell you about the use of the gun as an instrument of peace and stability. The gun may be one of the most important instruments of peace and stability that we have in this world ... as the Netherlands' Chief of Defense, this is also supported by cold, hard statistics. Violence has declined dramatically over the last 500 years. Despite the pictures we are shown daily in the news, wars between developed countries are no longer commonplace. The murder rate in Europe has dropped by a factor of 30 since the Middle Ages. And occurrences of civil war and repression have declined since the end of the Cold War. Statistics show that we are living in a relatively peaceful era. (van Uhm 8:00-9:37) 

He has a completely different view of weapons. Van Uhm realizes that violence has declined over the years, and perhaps that is because we used our weapons to create peace. Van Uhm goes on to talk about the dangers of failed states; "Failed states have no legitimized, democratically controlled use of force. Failed states do not know of the gun as an instrument of peace and stability. That is why failed states can drag down a whole region into chaos and conflict" (van Uhm 12:54). While van Uhm is speaking of countries as failed states, I feel that it can be portrayed as failed people as well who by not using the gun as an instrument of peace and stability can drag a whole region into chaos and conflict, much like what happens when some feeble minded person mass murders so many innocent people. Van Uhm shows that guns can be used for peace because he is right when he said violence is declining, so banning assault weapons might increase violence again.

Assault rifles are not detrimental to society. The media has swayed the opinions of so many American citizens by putting out the common misconceptions about assault rifles into the world we live in. They say that the assault rifles are causing violence, crimes, death, and other problems, however in truth they are not. Assault rifles should not be banned because they have lowered crime, lowered violence, and they are not the inanimate objects that are killing the innocent of our country, we the people are. The second amendment says that we have the right to bear arms, and to take that away would be unconstitutional. I ask you to open your eyes in the world and notice that we are not actually in war, but we are in a relatively peaceful state. Open your eyes America, the choice is yours.

