Do we really need an Assault Weapon Ban? [View all]

[SecularMotion]

I think Representative Carolyn McCarthy-NY(D) makes a good point here.

“If you take away the large magazines it’s not going to make any difference what kind of a gun you have because you’ll have less bullets into it,” she said. An assault-weapons ban “is more symbolic.”

McCarthy Backs Piecemeal Gun-Control Strategy in Congress

A ban on high-capacity gun magazines has a good chance of passing the Republican-led U.S. House if it’s offered as a stand-alone bill, said Representative Carolyn McCarthy, a New York Democrat.

With opposition in Congress to an assault-weapons ban, advancing a broad package of firearms restrictions could imperil President Barack Obama’s initiative to curb gun violence, McCarthy said today at a Bloomberg Government breakfast. She said a ban on the high-capacity devices that feed bullets and expanded background checks have support among lawmakers and could be approved.

Democrats initially had wanted to advance one major legislative package, including a ban on assault weapons, in the aftermath of the Dec. 14 shootings that killed 20 children and six adults in Newtown, Connecticut. Now, McCarthy says she’s “come around to thinking” a piecemeal approach is best.

“I was one that wanted a comprehensive package,” said McCarthy, whose husband was killed in a 1993 shooting on a Long Island Rail Road train. “I’m not going to derail everything.”

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-02-14/mccarthy-backs-piecemeal-gun-control-strategy-in-congress