Argument Deconstruction: “Ban on Assault Weapons”

In “A Deadline For Grandfathered Weapons”, in the April 15, 2014 New York Times, the New York Times Editorial Board argues that:

“Experts, like those in law enforcement who understand firearms, tell us that each of the features on an assault weapon serves a specific military combat function. Civilian assault weapons retain specific design features that make them so deadly. Those features are not cosmetic but are what distinguish assault weapons from traditional sporting rifles.”

            Maxim Lott, Producer of “John Stossel” on the Fox News Channel, objects to this in his February 16, 2014 “FoxNews.com” article “Cosmetic Tweaks To AR-15 Thwart New York’s “Ban” On Assault Rifles” [4], as do The Guardian’s U.S. Reporter and video Editor Adam Gabbatt and video Journalist Mae Ryan in their Tuesday April 1, 2014 article “New York Assault Weapons Ban Circumvented With Simple Modification” [3].

“The Safe Act was billed as the nation’s toughest, but a surprisingly easy loophole makes the weapons legal to sell.” Write Gabbatt and Ryan. “But while pro-gun campaigners continue to argue that the law is too strict—and are due to protest outside New York’s statehouse in Albany on Tuesday—gunmakers, gun shops and gun owners have found a remarkably simple way to make their assault weapons legal.” [3]. “Simple design tweaks are allowing gun makers to get around restrictions New York put in place following the 2012 school shootings in Connecticut, prompting some critics to say the laws were merely window-dressing.” Lott writes. He explains that the law introduced a stricter definition of an assault weapon as any semi-automatic rifle that accepts a detachable magazine and has any one of a list of ten features, such as a “protruding pistol-like grip”, a “flash suppressor”, a “bayonet mount”, and a “grenade launcher”. “To avoid that, some owners of old AR-15’s are modifying them so that they no longer classify as “assault weapons.” Lott writes. “One company, S and B Products, offers a “spur” to replace the pistol grip.” [4]. “But many gun shops in New York are offering to replace the grip on a banned weapon to make it compliant with the law.” Add Gabbatt and Ryan. “These modified weapons do not have to be registered with the state. Just Right Carbines a gun manufacturer in Rochester, has gone one step further. It builds modified semi-automatic rifles specifically for the New York market—and specifically to comply with the New York gun law.” [3]. “The gun is being marketed by Stag Arms as a “New York Compliant AR-15”, and features a slightly modified stock and no bells and whistles.” Lott adds. “The gun does not have a pistol grip, for instance—one of the features banned by the act.” [4]. “The modified gun still fires at the same rate and with the same power;” Gabbatt and Ryan write; “The shooter just holds it slightly differently.” [3].

            Lott quotes American Political Action Committee President and American Conservative Union Board Member Alan Gottlieb as stating that: “This just shows that the gun prohibition lobby uses symbolic gestures over substance to push their anti-gun rights agenda. Banning guns based on cosmetic features proves that point.” Lott also said that S and B Products President Steve Byron thought that: “the triviality of the modifications shows that the law is not productive.” [4].

            In his Wednesday April 9, 2014 New York Daily News article “Black Rain Production Demonstrates the Governor Cuomo’s Gun Regulations Are Modest And Reasonable” [6], State University of New York College at Cortland Political Science Department Chairman and Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science and Cornell University Visiting Professor Robert Spitzer takes a different angle from Lott [4] and The Guardian [3]. 

“The production of Black Rain, in fact, proves that the Safe Act is not only no actual threat to gun rights, but is a perfectly reasonable law.” Spitzer writes. “And putting it together made clear that Cuomo’s goal is reasonable: to make prolific firing more difficult by having a permanently attached magazine, and limiting the number of bullets it can hold without reloading.” “In fact;” He writes; “The only surprise about the manufacture of a New York-compliant assault rifle is that it didn’t come sooner.” [6].  

            In her April 15, 2014 Letter to the Editor of the New York Times, “Ban On Assault Weapons”, Leah Barett, Assistant Dean of Columbia University in the City of New York and Adjunct Lecturer at the Columbia University School of International And Public Affairs, argues that:

“Law-abiding gun owners should comply with a law that was passed by a bipartisan legislature is supported by a broad majority of New Yorkers and has been in effect for fifteen months.” [1].

            In his Monday April 21, 2014 article “New Yorkers Protest Assault Weapon Registration Law”, The New American Magazine [2] contributing editor Warren Mass objects to the premise of Barett’s argument, that “law-abiding gun owners should comply” with New York’s ban on assault weapons [1]. Mass quotes Springville, New York “range safety officer” Timothy Sedenhjelm, 59, of East Concord, New York as stating that: “Nobody is going to comply with this.” He quotes Erie County, New York Sheriff Timothy Howard as saying that he would not force his deputies to comply, and to enforce registration under the new law: “I am not encouraging them to do it.” [5].  

            Associated Press freelance newsperson Michael Virtanen takes a somewhat less hypothetical approach to this same objection in Syracuse Post-Standard Regional Editor David Figura’s April 7, 2014 article “Will New York’s April 15 Deadline To Register Assault Weapons Be Disregarded?”

            Figura and Virtanen write that: “Many New York gun owners expect the April 15 deadline to register assault weapons under the state’s strict new law to be largely ignored.” [2] This agrees with Mass when he writes on April 21 that: “As of April 5, only 3,000 to 5,000 New Yorker had registered their guns, and defenders of the Second Amendment estimate that compliance will be less than 10 percent.” [5]. Figura and Virtanen quote Buffalo, New York graphic artist Tutuska of West Seneca, New York as saying that he wouldn’t register the AR-15’s he’s owned legally for years: “I refuse to comply.” [2].

1,182 Words

1. Barrett, Leah. “Ban On Assault Weapons”.  The New York Times. April 20, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/21/opinion/ban-on-assault-weapons.html?_r=0
2. Figura, David. “Will New York’s April 15 Deadline To Register Assault Weapons Be Disregarded?” The Associated Press. April 7, 2014. http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/04/new_york_state_gun_owners_expect_few_to_register_law.html
3. Gabbatt, Adam and Ryan, Mae. “New York Assault Weapons Ban Circumvented With Simple Modification”. The Guardian. Tuesday April 1, 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/01/new-york-assault-weapons-ban-circumvented-modification
4. Lott, Maxim. “Cosmetic Tweaks To AR-15 Thwart New York’s Ban On Assault Rifles”. Fox News. February 16, 2014. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/02/16/cosmetic-tweaks-to-ar-15-thwart-new-york-ban-on-assault-rifles/
5. Mass, Warren. “New Yorkers Protest Assault Weapon Registration Law”. The New American. Monday April 21, 2014. http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/18096-new-yorkers-protest-assault-weapon-registration-law
6. Spitzer, Robert. “An Assault Weapon Gambit Backfires: Black Rain Rifle Production Demonstrates The Governor Cuomo’s Gun Regulation Are Modest And Reasonable”. The New York Daily News. Wednesday April 9, 2014. http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/assault-weapon-gambit-backfires-article-1.1749862