What is an “assault weapon?” That has changed through time and includes fists and feet, rocks, sticks, knives, spears, bow and arrow, trebuchets, cannons, and guns. It is a term now assigned by gun control advocates to semi-automatic rifles that “look military” and include a collapsible or adjustable stock and a forward grip.

Democrats in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives have advanced five measures regulating firearms toward a potential floor vote. One of these measures was a proposed ban on the sale of assault weapons.

People who designate these rifles as “assault rifles” also call them “weapons of war,” and do not understand that they are no more powerful or faster firing than the typical semi-automatic hunting rifle. Also, since they are not fully automatic, nobody would use them to fight a war. President Biden said they “can hold hundreds of rounds in the chamber,” when in fact they can only hold one round in the chamber. He said they can “fire hundreds of rounds a minute” when in fact they can only fire one round per pull of the trigger. Can you pull a trigger hundreds of times a minute? I don’t think so. He also said, “deer don’t wear Kevlar vests,” when the typical bullet fired from an AR-15 rifle is not useful for big game hunting!

The main reason given for banning so-called “assault rifles” is to prevent mass shootings. President Biden said there were 650 mass shootings last year. CNN said there were 586 mass shootings last year. Do you remember that many incidents? You won’t because the narrative is false! They get their numbers from an organization called The Gun Violence Archive, an anti-gun group that distorts the facts to promote their own agenda. They include gang shootings and armed robberies to jack up their numbers. The facts about gun violence come from an organization called the Crime Prevention Research Center. This organization has no agenda, using verifiable data to reach its conclusions. They refuse any funding from the NRA or other gun advocacy groups or gun control groups like Moms Demand Action. This information can be accessed at https://crimeresearch.org.

If you check their website, you will find that 52.5% of mass shootings are perpetrated with handguns, and 16.8% involve rifles. Note that rifles include bolt action and lever action guns that require manual input to load the next round into the chamber for firing. Thus, a small percentage of mass shootings involve the scary-looking “assault rifle.” You will also find that none of the so-called commonsense gun control laws would have prevented any of these situations.

There are currently 27 states that have permitless or constitutional carry laws allowing anybody who is legally allowed to own a gun to carry it concealed. Ohio and Florida are among the latest to pass these laws. Gun control advocates predicted a “Wild West” atmosphere, but the opposite was true. In Ohio, four of six major cities saw a drop in gun crime, and Florida is reporting similar results.

Finally, Illinois passed an assault weapons ban. It grandfathered in semi-automatic rifles already owned but required the owners to register them with the state. The result was massive non-compliance, with an estimated 1.22% registration rate. That means a 98.78% civil disobedience rate. They know that registration is the first step to confiscation!

Our founding fathers said gun ownership “shall not be infringed.” It wasn’t meant for hunting, it was meant for self-defense. Gun control has nothing to do with public safety and everything to do with control! It penalizes the law-abiding citizen and doesn’t deter those who break the law anyway.

Thomas L. Dahlmann lives in Selinsgrove.