U.S. Supreme Court declines to take up ban on assault weapons

     San Bernardino, California; Aurora, Colorado; Tucson, Arizona; Newton, Connecticut. Do you know what all these cities have in common? These are places where semi-automatic guns have been used to kill  massive amounts of people.

     To prevent these types of attacks on innocent civilians, states such as Maryland, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York have implemented similar gun bans on military-style rifles. However, many ban's, like California's, have loopholes. In the recent tragic San Bernardino incident, the two killers had rifles that were legally obtained. Even though most rifles are banned in California, the only exception is if a button mechanisms to release the ammunition magazines exists. 

     Yesterday, the Supreme Court announced that it would not take up a challenge to an assault weapon ban in a Chicago suburb, called Highland Park. This law, which was upheld by the lower courts bans the sale, purchase, and possession of semi-automatic firearms with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds of ammunition, or basically 10 bullets.

     Many pro-gun right's advocates have argued that their rights have been infringed on. Gun rights advocates say that gon-control laws violate enumerated second amendment rights. They are not alone. Both Justice Clarence Thoma and Antonin Scalia have openly dissented the majority opinion to not see the case. Justice Thomas has stated, “Because noncompliance with our Second Amendment precedents warrants this Court’s attention as much as any of our precedents, I would grant certiorari in this case. The arguments from the parties in the case reflect the deep divide nationwide between those who are pushing what they consider reasonable restrictions and others who think the lower courts are thumbing their nose at Supreme Court precedent by upholding certain restrictions". Thomas is referring to the District of Columbia v Heller case in which the court ruled, that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that firearm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.

So should we ban firearms?

During the 1994-2004 Federal assault ban, we do see a decrease in mass murders. The number of mass shootings since the ban has almost doubled. Indicating a ban on assault weapons was effective over a 10-year span of 1994-2004. Some might question why the spike near the year 2000 and that is because of an irregular mass shooting at a high school, that killed 12 and injured 21 others. 

 On the other hand, banning firearms might not be the solution as shown by the graph below: 

We see that in states, like Chicago and Washington D.C.,  with complete bans on firearms have actually shown some of the highest murder counts in the nation. We also see that in states with less gun control have fewer murders. One thing that really stuck out to me was that villages that required a loaded gun in each house, had reduced home invasion crime.

Questions:

1) Do you believe there should be some gun control in the U.S.? If so, on all firearms or only assault weapons?

2)What do you think of the lower courts breaking a precedent set by the Supreme Court to allow gun control bans?
Bibliography:
http://fox6now.com/2015/12/07/u-s-supreme-court-declines-to-take-up-ban-on-assault-weapons/
http://www.latintimes.com/supreme-court-wont-review-assault-weapons-ban-california-gun-restrictions-safe-now-357230
http://qz.com/568063/the-supreme-court-refused-to-review-a-challenge-to-an-assault-weapons-ban/
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/supreme-court-rejects-challenge-ban-assault-weapons-article-1.2457669
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/12/08/how-the-gun-lobby-outsmarted-itself-and-brought-about-its-big-supreme-court-defeat-monday/
http://stgapgov.pbworks.com/f/1257006873/1257006873/1257006873/1257006873/gungraph2.gif
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-san-bernardino-shooters-radicalized-but-did-they-get-help-20151208-story.html
http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/07/politics/scotus-declines-to-take-up-ban-on-assault-weapons/