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Walz’s Weapons of War

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While calling for a ban on “assault weapons,” VP candidate Tim Walz claims “we can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at.”

IN FACT, Walz never served in a combat zone, and the “assault weapons” he wants to ban are not “weapons of war” but common semi-automatic guns used for home-defense and hunting. Here are the key facts:

  • The defining feature of firearms commonly used in war is that they are automatic, which means they can fire multiple bullets with a single pull of the trigger.
  • With strict exceptions, federal law has generally banned civilians from possessing automatic firearms — including machine guns and assault rifles — since 1986.
  • Two years after automatic firearms were banned, progressives moved to also ban certain semi-automatic guns by calling them “assault weapons,” a phrase that sounds like “assault rifles” — the most common type of firearm used by military forces and terrorists.
  • A leading gun control activist wrote in 1988 that their strategy to ban “assault weapons” would take advantage of the “public’s confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic” guns.
  • After receiving multiple “A” ratings from the NRA as a U.S. Congressman, Walz announced that he wanted to ban “assault weapons” when he ran for governor of Minnesota in 2018 and has since received multiple “F” ratings from the NRA.
  • The “assault weapons” that Walz, Harris, and other Democrats are seeking to ban are popular firearms used for home-defense and hunting.
  • The “assault weapons” that Walz, Harris, and other Democrats call “weapons of war” are not weapons of war but semi-automatic guns that can fire only one bullet with each pull of a trigger.
  • A 1994 federal law — supported mainly by Democrats — banned “assault weapons” and magazines that hold more than 10 rounds through 2004.
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