Democrats: Get A $2,000 Tax Credit For Turning In Your Assault Rifles

Congressional Democrats have a grand scheme to make America’s streets safer; incentivize people cannibalize to their Second Amendment rights for tax credits. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) will introduce the Support Assault Firearm Elimination and Education of our Streets Act, which will do just that (via the Hill):

“Assault weapons are not about hunting, or even self-defense,” DeLauro said. “There is no reason on earth, other than to kill as many people as possible in as short a time as possible, that anyone needs a gun designed for a battlefield.”

Though DeLauro is in favor of stronger guns laws that would completely ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition, she emphasized this bill would not force gun owners to turn in their firearms.

The legislation would provide up to $2,000 in tax credits for gun owners who voluntarily hand over assault weapons to their local police departments.

The assault weapons legislation comes in response to the horrific mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., DeLauro’s home state, in December 2012.

DeLauro originally introduced the bill in January 2013, just one month after the Newtown shooting, but the legislation fell short in the Republican-controlled House. She plans to reintroduce it next week when Congress returns from recess.

She said the bill would help “get more assault weapons off the streets."

“Just days after the Newtown tragedy, President Obama asked, ‘Are we doing enough to protect our children?’ And he admitted the answer is, ‘no.’ That must change,” DeLauro said.

DeLauro is announcing the assault weapons legislation this week in conjunction with National Public Health Week.

I wish we could ignore these pieces of legislation that are factually challenged, and somewhat offensive given that they feel tax credits will incentivize Americans to depreciate their civil rights through monetary means. Truth be told, you could hunt with a Ruger Mini-14, which has a 30-round magazine and fires the same Remington .223–or 5.56–ammunition used by AR-15 owners. Also, any firearm can be used for self-defense, congresswoman. Though, it comes down to a level of practicality.

Lastly, rifles are seldom used in crimes. The New York Times published ProPublica’s Lois Beckett’s piece on the assault weapons in 2014, where she wrote it's a "myth" that banning these firearms would curb gun violence; something we–on the pro-civil rights side–have been saying for quite some time:

Over the past two decades, the majority of Americans in a country deeply divided over gun control have coalesced behind a single proposition: The sale of assault weapons should be banned.

That idea was one of the pillars of the Obama administration’s plan to curb gun violence, and it remains popular with the public. In a poll last December, 59 percent of likely voters said they favor a ban.

But in the 10 years since the previous ban lapsed, even gun control advocates acknowledge a larger truth: The law that barred the sale of assault weapons from 1994 to 2004 made little difference.

It turns out that big, scary military rifles don’t kill the vast majority of the 11,000 Americans murdered with guns each year. Little handguns do.

In 2012, only 322 people were murdered with any kind of rifle, F.B.I. data shows.

Don’t worry about handgun bans; that’ll never get off the ground.

Also, keep in mind that this bill is being introduced when gun violence is at a two-decade low.