Federal judge likens AR-15 to Swiss Army knife while overturning assault weapons ban

A federal judge overturned California's longtime ban on assault weapons on Friday in a ruling that likened the AR-15 to a Swiss Army knife.
Assault weapons have been banned in California since 1989, according to the ruling. The law has been updated several times since it was originally passed.
According to the ruling by US District Judge Roger Benitez of San Diego, the assault weapons ban violates the Second Amendment's right to bear arms and deprives Californians from owning assault-style weapons commonly allowed in other states. Benitez issued a permanent injunction Friday so the law cannot be enforced.
"Like the Swiss Army Knife, the popular AR-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment," Benitez said in the ruling. "Firearms deemed as 'assault weapons' are fairly ordinary, popular, modern rifles."
In his ruling, the judge also criticized the news media, writing, "One is to be forgiven if one is persuaded by news media and others that the nation is awash with murderous AR-15 assault rifles. The facts, however, do not support this hyperbole, and facts matter."
According to 2019 FBI data, the handgun was the most commonly used weapon in murders and accounted for 6,368 victims in 2019. Knives or cutting instruments accounted for 1,476 murders, rifles accounted for 364 murder victims, and "firearms, type not stated" accounted for 3,281 victims, the data shows.
Still, an AR-15 style rifle has been the weapon of choice for the most violent mass killings in modern history, including in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado; the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh; the Route 91 Harvest musical festival in Las Vegas; a massacre at a church in Texas; the Pulse nightclub in Orlando; a high school in Parkland, Florida; and the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

#CNN #News #PoloSandoval

54 comments

    1. @Communication Failure7600 Yep defund and DEPROGRAM the police. give these guys a rest. Got a man being crazy in the streets?? Send a shrink. Got a couple that’s fighting?? send a couple’s counselor. Got as guy robbing the bank?? Send a cop. Suicide attempts and hostage situations don’t send the cops in, gun in hand. No, they send in people who are trained in those areas to de-esculate the problem.

    2. @perk-u-later you understand a gun is just a tool right if a evil man or woman wants to kill a lot of people they’ll find a way

    3. @perk-u-later 84 people died in Nice when Isis terrorist drove a huge truck through crowd

    4. @perk-u-later and what stopped him from running over hundreds of more people was good guys with guns

    5. @perk-u-later got a domestic dispute? Those never get violent. Send the neighbors. Traffic ticket, send a social worker, those never get violent. Got a hostage situation? Send flowers and a life coach. Lol. Just look at what’s happening in cities where police have been defunded. Crime is through the roof. Even Minneapolis refunded their police. The answer is actually to better fund the police. Better training, better pay, better tactics, better support, fewer hours. Then you will have police that can handle both the mental health aspect (better mental health training) and resort to lethal force less often (better and more physical combat training), are better rested and thinking more clearly, and attract a better class of person to the job (better pay). Support your police don’t throw them under the bus. Portland has lost over 200 officers since January. NYC is losing officers in droves as well. What happens when the cat is away again? There is ample evidence to support more funding not less.

    1. @Versace Chang The cop was treated for trauma & head injuries but not hospitalized & had multiple strokes days later & died. Strokes are caused by blood clots. Blood clots can be caused by vascular trauma or trauma to the legs & lungs. His family needs to find a better lawyer.

    2. @Vacnol They were invented because weak men couldn’t fight with their hands. Weapons were for hunting then men used them on eachother.

    3. @Hoang Vo True, but why does anybody need a weapon of mass destruction that causes mass casualties in a matter of seconds in a nation not currently in an active war on its own shores?

    4. @Thomas Armsworthy Jr That depends on who you ask – the person firing the weapon killing & maming multiple victims or the multiple injured & dead that took the bullets all in a matter of seconds.

    5. ​@iForgott To Wipe Actually you are not wrong. Calling anyone that owns an assault rifles a criminal is the same as calling peaceful protesters rioters. Bet you still don’t get it.

    1. @1 1 With a knife you need to go close to a victim and there is a possibility of defense, or at least for the people around or the police to stop you. With a machine gun you can kill dozens of people in a few seconds and nobody can stop you. Guns are used by cowards.

    2. @Francis Peter I can kill a lot of people in matter of seconds with a vehicle as well. In fact, that’s happened in the Nice attack in France 🤔

    1. Schools are an easy target and the smooth brain cowards take advantage of that. Arm the schools so nobody wants to pick a fight with them.

  1. I sometimes wish Americans could spend some time abroad. Looking into the US from the outside would convince some of them of the sheer craziness of the place.

  2. I’m curious how AR 15 style shooting deaths compare with hand gun violence? I would think it’s a fraction. Why doesn’t anyone ever talk about that?

    1. I need mines, tanks, rocketlaunchers and chainsaw catapults to defend my family and my property against my enemies.

  3. Sure, every time when I want to cut a piece of meat and can’t find my Swiss army knife, I use my AR-15……Why not?

    1. I use a steak knife. It works better for cutting meat than a swiss army knife or even an AR.

    2. It’s clearly it’s a statement about how multi-purpose the AR-15 is, just like a Swiss Army knife

  4. The judge is right.
    Restrict semi-automatic, if you must. You know that almost every pistol is a semi-auto, right?
    Look, if you ban AR15s because they are used so often you must realize it’s because they are so common. If other styles – like let’s say a Garand – would be as popular, they would be used.
    You guys have to change your mindset regarding weapons. Check the owners better. Monitor them.
    But stop pretending that an AR15 is used in the military. It is not. They use full-auto variants.

    1. And the more powerful Garand actually is a weapon of war. These gun grabbers a funny bunch!

  5. This is so biased considering the ban didn’t stop people from obtaining these weapons. They’re not actually addressing the problem of domestic abuse and the failures of mental health awareness present in our current society. The ban is exactly as the judge said “a failed experiment”.

  6. it says “shall not be infringed” , not “shall not be erased”

    when it comes to infringement an inch and mile are equal distances. 🇺🇸

  7. Almost as if he was reading out of a broucher……wonder if that judge has any new sports cars 🤔

  8. Outstanding display of true intelligence and self awareness by all that shamelessly fail to grasp what the judge actually said.

  9. Fact check: AR-15 style rifles have been used in 11 mass shootings since 2012.
    There’s been OVER 120 mass shootings (by definition) since 2012.
    So….

  10. Perfect example of the POLITICIZATION OF THE COURTS… I guess he doesn’t read the news paper only the Constitution !!

  11. I’m old enough to remember when the 2nd Amendment was considered obsolete. Gun manufacturers were losing money. Then they teamed up with the NRA. Now the 2nd is considered sacrosanct by both parties. This is not the history.

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