‘Common-Sense’ Gun Reform Is Overrated. Here’s Why.

By Jonathan Blanks

Jonathan Blanks

One of the recent refrains from the White House and other political circles after a gun tragedy is, “We need common-sense gun reforms.” It’s a convenient piece of jargon that conveys level-headedness, non-partisanship and empathy. But it doesn’t mean anything substantive, because not all gun deaths are the same: Treating them as if they are is neither common sense nor good public policy. Many of these “common-sense reforms” — assault weapon bans and vague allusions to “gun availability” — do little to reduce the major drivers of gun-related deaths.

“Many of these ‘common-sense reforms’ — assault weapon bans and vague allusions to ‘gun availability’ — do little to reduce the major drivers of gun-related deaths.”

The United States contains an estimated 270 million to 310 million firearms. All gun crimes and gun deaths are overwhelmingly perpetrated with handguns, yet barely one quarter of Americans favor a handgun ban that would be required to lower that number significantly. So-called “assault weapons” and “high-capacity” magazines are easy political targets because they sound scary to people unfamiliar with firearms. However, restricting either or both would likely have no measurable effect on gun crime rates.

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Source:: Cato Institute