[BoulderCouncilHotline] Thoughts on Boulder regulations on certain semi-automatic weapons and rapid fire devices

[Weaver, Sam]

Fellow Council Members and HOTLINE followers,

Attached and below you  will find some research results and some of my thoughts on the regulation of so-called 'assault weapons'.  I look forward to the community conversation that will follow.

All the best,

Sam Weaver
Member of Boulder City Council
weavers at bouldercolorado.gov<mailto:weavers at bouldercolorado.gov>
Phone: 303-416-6130


Thoughts on 'Assault Weapon' Regulation in Boulder, CO

As I began thinking about potential additional regulations on 'assault weapons' in the wake of the deadly shootings at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida, I had several questions.  What impact did the Federal Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act (informally termed the Federal Assault Weapons Ban) have on mass shooting while it was in effect from 1994 through 2004?  What else have states and cities done in this regard?  How do we avoid criminalizing the law-abiding group of firearms owners in Boulder, an overwhelming majority of such gun owners, while still protecting the public from mass gun violence?

One aspect of this subject is clear - semi-automatic rifles, pistons, and shotguns commonly called 'assault weapons' may produce the most horrifying slaughter of innocents of all gun violence, but it is only the tip of a much bigger gun violence iceberg.  Another point that is clear to me is that there is no single policy solution to the overall gun violence problem.  Further, the vast majority of gun owners are law-abiding citizens who possess their weapons for hobby reasons, or professional reasons, or for self-defense reasons.  What I will address here are regulatory policies to specifically reduce death and injury from mass shooting incidents, many of which involve semi-automatic weapons, some of which are modified for extremely high rates of fire.

With that said, I wanted to share some resources that I have found helpful in thinking through potential 'assault weapon' regulations.  One database which is available that catalogues mass shootings from 1982 through 2018 is assembled here:

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-mother-jones-full-data/

When I broke down this information, I found the following:


  1.  In the years 1984 through 1993 (inclusive) there were 307 victims (148 deaths) in mass shooting incidents.
  2.  In the years 1995 through 2004 (inclusive) there were 209 victims (101 deaths) in mass shooting incidents.  These were the effective years of the federal assault weapons ban.
  3.  In the years 2005 through 2014 (inclusive) there were 553 victims (299 deaths) in mass shooting incidents.
Below is a chart of deaths by year:
[cid:image001.png at 01D3AF3E.DA3B2A20]
What this says to me is that there is evidence that the Federal assault weapons ban likely reduced the deaths and injuries due to mass shootings while it was in effect.

As to the question of what other states and cities have done, the following is a link to the Giffords Law Center, a resource which collects information on the subject:

http://lawcenter.giffords.org/gun-laws/policy-areas/hardware-ammunition/assault-weapons/

Seven states have passed bans on semi-automatic weapons which meet that state's definition of 'assault weapons', usually using criteria-based definitions of that term, but often also adding a listing of banned specific weapons. Each of the states also provided for the 'grandfathering' of such weapons which were possessed legally prior to the ban.  Many states with such grandfathering provisions require registration of such weapons, and some provide for additional restrictions.

In addition, one city, Washington DC, and one county, Cook County, Illinois have banned 'assault weapons.'  These two locations have enacted strict bans with no grandfathering or licensing.

My personal opinion is to move forward with a ban on possession, sale, purchase, transfer, loan, pledge, transportation, distribution, importation, and manufacture of 'assault weapons.'  I would also follow the lead of California, Connecticut, and Massachusetts in creating grandfathering provisions that do not criminalize the current owners of these weapons in Boulder, but do require their registration with the City within a certain time period.  Once that window for initial registration has expired, no new weapons would be allowed to be registered. I also support a definition of 'assault weapon' in which the weapon meets a single criterion of a list of definitional criteria.

I would further support limiting magazine capacity to 5 for shotguns and 10 for rifles and pistols.

Finally, I support a complete ban with no exceptions for devices which are specifically intended to accelerate the rate of fire of a semi-automatic weapon.  Examples of such devices are bump stocks, trigger gloves, and Gatling cranks.  Links to examples of each of these devices are below.

https://slidefire.com/

https://gizmodo.com/this-trigger-happy-glove-lets-you-simulate-machine-gun-1797434487

http://www.wideopenspaces.com/turn-ar-15-mini-gatling-gun-40/

Denver has recently banned bump stocks, and there is a bill in the Colorado legislature to do so.  I am not certain if these bump stock bans include other devices.  I expect the state bills on this subject to fail in the Colorado Senate, lending good reason why Boulder should act on its own to attempt to protect our residents and businesses from acts of mass gun violence. I hope that we can act swiftly to reduce the number of quasi-military weapons in our city, including an absolute ban on fire-rate-multiplying devices, while clearly recognizing that most gun owners are responsible stewards of their weapons.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://list.ci.boulder.co.us/pipermail/bouldercouncilhotline/attachments/20180227/c704344f/attachment.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 12260 bytes
Desc: image001.png
Url : http://list.ci.boulder.co.us/pipermail/bouldercouncilhotline/attachments/20180227/c704344f/attachment.png 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Thoughts on Assault Weapon Regulation in Boulder.docx
Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Size: 31019 bytes
Desc: Thoughts on Assault Weapon Regulation in Boulder.docx
Url : http://list.ci.boulder.co.us/pipermail/bouldercouncilhotline/attachments/20180227/c704344f/attachment.bin