Premium Essay

Why Assault Weapons Should Not Be Banned

In:

Submitted By Hadley17
Words 1151
Pages 5
Crux Argument:
Assault rifles have a name and reputation that make them seem much more dangerous than they really are. There are many misconceptions about these rifles amongst the public, media, and politicians and as such they have been demonized as weapons with the sole purpose of dealing death and destruction. In actuality assault rifles play a very small part in gun violence or mass killings and banning them would do nothing to slow these crimes.

Opening:
Good morning Senators, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak today.

A man enters a crowded public area; he places the stock of his gun against his hip and pulls the trigger, holding it down as he firing indiscriminately into the crowd killing dozens of innocents in mere seconds. Is this the type of image that comes to mind when someone mentions the word assault rifle? It was when I first heard the term, but this stigma is incorrect and unfair. The weapon I have described is not in fact an assault rifle but rather a military grade machine gun. Anyone in his or her right mind would agree that no average citizen would ever have the need to possess a fully automatic military grade firearm. That is why machine guns such as I described are as illegal today as they have been for the past twenty-seven years.

Narration:
It is being proposed today that banning assault rifles would be beneficial in protecting the American people. That if people are no longer allowed to purchase these weapons, gun violence will decrease. I believe that the United States does have a problem of gun violence. I believe that action does need to be taken to protect its citizens against dangerous criminals with guns. I believe that banning assault rifles is not the correct way to do this.

Division:
Assault rifles are not, as their name would indicate, fully automatic military-grade tools of death. So

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