The government should restrict access to assault weapons since they have no place in the life of civilians and not important for self-defense. They pose a distinct threat to the safety and security of people as deranged attackers use them in a mass shooting to kill more people faster. After the 2004 expiration of the federal ban on assault weapons, the Congress has failed to renew it thus making it necessary for the American government to pass sensible laws to prohibit the access to assault weapons (Assault Weapons, 2019). The reasons being:
Assault weapons have been used in several tragic, high-profile shootings and murders. This includes the nation’s most deadly mass shooting that occurred in 2007 at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival, Las Vegas. The incident left fifty-eight dead and over 400 with injuries. There are other examples such as the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando in Florida that claimed forty-nine lives and 53 left injured (2016) and the office shooting that happened in 1993 at the 101 California Street building in San Francisco leaving nine dead and six injured (Assault Weapons, 2019).The weapons also pose a threat to law enforcement. A study analyzed from 1998 to 2001 by FBI data shows that assault weapons have killed 20% of the law enforcement officers in their line of duty. PERF shows that there is thirty-seven percent of the police agencies responding that there have seen noticeable increases in crimes by the use of the assault weapons since the 2004 expiration of federal ban.
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Increased rate of homicides in Mexico has been linked to easy access to assault weapons in the United States which has also been fueling violence at home. A report that has been combined by scholars from Mexico and the United States shows that the semi-automatic assault rifles are the most widely used weapons by the drug trafficking organizations ever since the federal ban expired.
Reference
Assault Weapons, (January 29, 2019). Should the government restrict access to assault weapons? Fact On File Issues & Controversies
