WBA Debate Topic: Gun Legislation

Following the mass shootings this year with assault-style weapons in Uvalde, Buffalo, and Highland Park, the bi-partisan gun safety law was passed this summer, but polls show Americans want Congress to do more. To that end, what restrictions, if any, would you put on the sale of military-style assault weapons? And when it comes to mandatory background checks to buy a firearm, do you agree with overwhelming bipartisan public support of the plan?

• Spectrum News / Siena College Wisconsin Poll details gun control issues–universal background checks bipartisan support, split support for assault-style weapons
• On defining assault-style weapons, CNBC reports: “”The gun industry’s traditional definition of an “assault rifle” is a weapon the military generally uses and has “select fire capabilities,” or the capability to switch between semi-automatic or a fully automatic mode. However, the civilian AR-15s do not have the select fire capabilities, only semi-automatic settings, so the firearms industry insists they are not an actual assault rifle or assault weapon.”
• Gallup Poll on gun trends, including preference of enforcing current laws more strictly or passing new laws in addition.
• According to the same Gallup Poll, 55 percent of respondents said in June there should be a ban on the manufacture, possession and sale of semi-automatic guns, known as assault rifles. 44 percent answered there should not be.