F&S: What about the other uses, for self-defense and target practice?
V.P. BIDEN: Well, the way in which we measure it is—I think most scholars would say—is that as long as you have a weapon sufficient to be able to provide your self-defense
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I said, “Well, you know, my shotgun will do better for you than your AR-15, because you want to keep someone away from your house, just fire the shotgun through the door.” Most people can handle a shotgun a hell of a lot better than they can a semiautomatic weapon in terms of both their aim and in terms of their ability to deter people coming. We can argue whether that’s true or not, but it is no argument that, for example, a shotgun could do the same job of protecting you.
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F&S: Many of our readers asked a question that gets to the heart of what you’re saying here. What’s the difference between, say, a semiautomatic hunting rifle that has traditional looks and characteristics and one that is an AR and labeled an assault rifle? One of the criticisms has been that it’s really only about cosmetic features—pistol grips, rails, barrel shrouds. How do those features make a rifle any more deadly or dangerous than a semiautomatic rifle that has a—
V.P. BIDEN: The thing that makes it the deadliest are the size of the round and how many rounds you have in a magazine. And the cops are coming to us and saying, “We’re being outgunned. We’re being outgunned.” And so there’s always a balancing test, whether it’s the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, an individual right to use the weapon, is whether or not that weapon—if it had a magazine with only 10 shells in it as opposed to 30 or more, does that make a difference?
Does it make a difference in terms of the public safety of the, in this case, police officers who are being outgunned for someone to be able to have a weapon that has a much longer range and greater lethality with, you know, 10, 20, 30 or 40 rounds?
And so the question is, is that necessary for you to protect yourself? How many legitimate hunters go out and hunt like that?
F&S: It’s a very popular rifle, and it’s popular for varmints and smaller game, and actually, the round is actually not as effective or powerful as many more traditional big-game rounds.
V.P. BIDEN: Well, I think that’s true. In fact, I know that’s true, having fired the assault weapons or however you want to characterize semiautomatic rifles. But the answer is that basically police say, “We’re being outgunned,” and the limitation on the individual right to bear arms, hunt, protect yourself, et cetera, is not infringed upon to any degree, and it’s offset by the public need for that to be eliminated as a weapon being able to be used against, in this case, police officers.
F&S: Well, this brings up a common question that we got from a lot of readers, and I’ll use the reader Mike Hooker who asked this: “AR-style rifles, or what are being called assault rifles, are in fact used for many legitimate purposes. What is the reason for banning these popular rifles when, according to the 2011 FBI Uniform Crime Report, they are used in fewer than 1 percent of all firearm-related criminal homicides?”
V.P. BIDEN: Because there are so many out there, and police don’t want more out there, because they’re being outgunned. That’s the reason why.
F&S: According to the statistics, more handguns are used in crimes.
V.P. BIDEN: Well, by the way, that’s true. That’s absolutely true. That’s why we want to limit the clips, the size of the magazine on handguns.
ickle:
