Are Assault Rifles Legal in America

Post date: Oct 04, 2017 5:59:25 PM

Are Assault Rifles Legal in America?

By Pradipti Lama and David Zhang

            What are assault rifles? Are assault rifles legal in the U.S.? Are they legal in all states? Assault rifles are firearms designed for military use that are somewhat automatic, shoot swiftly and fire accurately. Not all assault rifles are automatic though. Some such as the Colt AR-15 are semi-automatic. The assault rifles require you to keep pulling the trigger to fire a bullet.  Assault rifles are legal in the country depending on the state.

Just this week on October 1st, the nation had the biggest shooting massacre in all of U.S history. More than 50 people were killed leaving 500 more injured. It had happened in Las Vegas during a music festival. The shooter was a 64-year-old multi-millionaire named, Stephen Paddock. He had done the shooting from the 32nd floor of a hotel building.

(Quotes from student) We interviewed some students on what they think about the massacre and how the country could prevent this from happening. We also asked some students whether they would like assault rifles to be legal or illegal. One of the colleagues (Tracy M. Huang) answered the question for us. “It really wouldn’t change much about the incident even if assault rifles were illegal because the shooter would’ve found some other way to obtain one.”

The states that have banned assault rifles so far are California, New York, Massachusetts,  New Jersey, Connecticut and the District of Columbia (Washington D.C). The only three states so far that regulate assault rifles are Minnesota, Virginia and Maryland. The other 42 states haven’t regulated or banned assault rifles.

One of the most common assault rifles, the Colt AR-15,  is a semi-automatic rifle that is still legal to purchase. But the cost of being caught with one in one of the states that ban the use of assault rifles for civilians is severe. You can serve multiple years in prison just for being caught with one in the states that ban assault rifles.

It is exceptionally important that we know what happened in Las Vegas about less than a week ago. We hope other state governments also decide to ban or regulate assault rifles for less of these injuries and crimes. We wish the best for the victims who are still recovering from the massacre.