VPC

Eugene Volokh reminisces about the Assault Weapons Ban with a portion of a 1998 press release from the Violence Policy Center.

'...Assault weapons -- just like armor-piercing bullets, machine guns, and plastic firearms -- are a new topic. The weapons' menacing looks, coupled with the public's confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons -- anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun -- can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons. In addition, few people can envision a practical use for these weapons....

So when gun rights supporters worry that "assault weapons" bans are (1) attempts to grease the slope to restrictions on handguns and other guns, and (2) attempts to capitalize on public confusion about what assault weapons really are, they are really only saying what the Violence Policy Center has itself already said.'

We have yet another example of liberal wisdom, in which we Americans must be deceived into supporting the policies that are best for us.