{"id":17335,"date":"2022-06-06T10:15:53","date_gmt":"2022-06-06T14:15:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=17335"},"modified":"2022-06-06T10:21:37","modified_gmt":"2022-06-06T14:21:37","slug":"assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/06\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Assault Weapons\u2019 Ban: First Step on the Road to Tyranny"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>Libertarian Institute, June 6, 2022<\/h1>\n

\u2018Assault Weapons\u2019 Ban: First Step on the Road to Tyranny<\/a><\/h1>\n

by Jim Bovard<\/a><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

President Joe Biden is seeking to revive his presidency by demolishing the Second Amendment<\/strong>. In a televised address<\/a> last Thursday, Biden called for a ban on assault weapons, which he portrayed as the epitome of evil. Vice President Kamala Harris caterwauled that assault weapons are a \u201cweapon of war\u201d with \u201cno place in civil society<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assault weapons are a \u201cflag of convenience\u201d for the Democrats\u2019 circus shell game with Americans\u2019 constitutional rights.<\/strong> Biden talks as if assault weapons are solely a moral issue. But once that premise is accepted, then he can move to ban vast numbers of firearms widely owned by Americans.<\/p>\n

In an August 2019 interview, CNN host Anderson Cooper asked Biden about gun owners who fear that \u201ca Biden administration means they\u2019re gonna come for my guns.\u201d Biden replied, \u201cBingo, you\u2019re right<\/a>, if you have an assault weapon.\u201d In his Thursday speech, Biden declared that he respected \u201cthe concerns of lawful gun owners.\u201d But after Biden changes the law, millions of those same individuals could be federal felons who Biden feels entitled to disarm.<\/p>\n

We are supposed to blindly trust the White House that an assault weapon is whatever they say it is\u2014this week. Vice President Kamala Harris declared last week:\u00a0 \u201cYou know what an assault weapon<\/a> is?\u2026 It was designed for a specific purpose\u2014to kill a lot of human beings quickly.\u201d But millions of Americans use the gun for hunting, target shooting, and other endeavors.<\/p>\n

The federal ban on machine guns, first enacted in 1934, rests on a clear definition: a firearm that fires multiple rounds with each trigger pull. But \u201cassault weapon\u201d refers to semi-automatic (one shot per trigger pull) firearms with attributes that frighten pundits and politicians. The original 1994 assault weapons ban prohibited rifles with grenade launchers<\/a>\u2014even though such grenade launchers had never been used in a violent crime in the United States. It was \u201cpicture book prohibition,\u201d decimating the Second Amendment on aesthetic grounds.<\/p>\n

Because \u201cassault weapon\u201d is a political hobgoblin rather than a specific type of firearm, legal definitions are often arbitrary and confusing\u2014which can have fatal consequences. Montgomery County, Maryland police killed 21-year-old Duncan Lemp<\/strong><\/a> i<\/strong>n a no-knock, predawn raid on March 12, 2020 after they saw an Instagram photo he posted of himself with a rifle, which they presumed was an illegal Israeli assault weapon forbidden by Maryland law. Police also targeted Lemp, an outspoken gun rights advocate, for a \u201cshoot first, knock and announce later\u201d raid because he had made anti-police comments to an informant.<\/p>\n

Nine months after Lemp was shot to death in his bedroom (after police had smashed in the bedroom window), the county attorney issued a report which laconically mentioned, \u201cIt should be noted that upon further review and investigation into the IWI Tavor X95 rifle, it was determined that it was not an assault rifle<\/a>\u2026It appears that Lemp\u2019s rifle was a legal \u2018copycat\u2019 made to look exactly like the illegal version of the IWI Tavor X95. Very minute changes such as the overall length of the weapon can mean the difference between an illegal assault rifle and a legal one.\u201d But the non-banned weapon was \u201cclose enough for government work\u201d to exonerate police for killing Lemp in his bedroom. The county government treated its fatal mistake like a paperwork error.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery minute changes\u201d is the key to the assault weapons charade. Politicians and bureaucrats can make \u201cminute changes\u201d to official regulations to covertly turn millions of American gun owners into felons overnight. The Trump administration did that with bump stocks and the Biden administration is hustling to do that with pistol braces. Biden recently condemned 9 mm. ammo and gun magazines which hold more than 10 bullets\u2014which includes most of the pistols sold in the U.S. in the last decade. While Biden is whipping up public rage on AR-15 type rifles, there is no fundamental difference between AR-15s and other rifles with a detachable magazine.<\/p>\n

The federal assault weapon ban expired after ten years. When Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) pushed for the ban to be re-instated, she estimated that the previously banned weapons were used in 50 killings nationwide<\/a> per year\u2014fewer than the number of people strangled to death each year.\u00a0 A 2004 report<\/a> financed by the National Institute of Justice found that the ban had little or no impact on violent crime. A 2013 National Institute of Justice report concluded, \u201cSince assault weapons are not a major contributor to U.S. gun homicide and the existing stock of guns is large, an assault weapon ban is unlikely to have an impact on gun violence.\u201d All types of rifles account for less than six percent of homicides.<\/p>\n

As a Washington Post<\/em> editorial admitted after the initial assault weapons ban was enacted, \u201cAssault weapons play a part in only a small percentage of crime. The provision is mainly symbolic; its virtue will be if it turns out to be, as hoped, a stepping stone<\/a> to broader gun control.\u201d If Biden\u2019s assault weapons ban is placed on the books, demagogic politicians and their media allies will demand that the list of banned weapons be expanded after each high profile shooting.<\/p>\n

Regardless of how brazenly the police fail to respond to active shooters (such as the Uvalde school shooting), the only solution will be to seize more guns from peaceful citizens. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) sagely observed, \u201cDemocrats say they don\u2019t want to ban all guns. But they do want to take some guns<\/a> from all people, and all guns from some people. Good luck not being on either of their two lists.\u201d<\/p>\n

The AR-15 is simply the opening political bid for a disarmament game propelled by a media chorus always demanding \u201cMore! More! More!\u201d Biden\u2019s perennial contempt for the Second Amendment proves he cannot be trusted with a vaporous prohibition that can be expanded at his pleasure. Gun owners would be criminally na\u00efve to expect Washington politicians to respect their rights better in the future than they did in the past.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Libertarian Institute, June 6, 2022 \u2018Assault Weapons\u2019 Ban: First Step on the Road to Tyranny by Jim Bovard President Joe Biden is seeking to revive his presidency by demolishing the Second Amendment. In a televised address last Thursday, Biden called for a ban on assault weapons, which he portrayed as the epitome of evil. Vice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1643,2124,1182,2270,45,2021,203,2269,316,629,252],"class_list":["post-17335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-assault-weapons","tag-biden","tag-dianne-feinstein","tag-duncan-lemp","tag-freedom","tag-kamala-harris","tag-maryland","tag-montgomery-county","tag-second-amendment","tag-thomas-massie","tag-tyranny"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Assault Weapons\u2019 Ban: First Step on the Road to Tyranny - James Bovard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Biden's proposed assault weapons ban is a step towards mass confiscation of tens of millions of semi-automatic firearms\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/06\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Assault Weapons\u2019 Ban: First Step on the Road to Tyranny - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Biden's proposed assault weapons ban is a step towards mass confiscation of tens of millions of semi-automatic firearms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/06\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-06T14:15:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-06-06T14:21:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/peace-152805_1280.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@jimbovard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/06\\\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/06\\\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018Assault Weapons\u2019 Ban: First Step on the Road to Tyranny\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-06T14:15:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-06T14:21:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/06\\\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1027,\"commentCount\":7,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/06\\\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/peace-152805_1280.png\",\"keywords\":[\"assault weapons\",\"Biden\",\"Dianne Feinstein\",\"Duncan Lemp\",\"Freedom\",\"Kamala Harris\",\"Maryland\",\"Montgomery County\",\"second amendment\",\"Thomas Massie\",\"tyranny\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/06\\\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/06\\\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/06\\\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u2018Assault Weapons\u2019 Ban: First Step on the Road to Tyranny - James Bovard\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/06\\\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/06\\\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/peace-152805_1280.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-06T14:15:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-06T14:21:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"description\":\"Biden's proposed assault weapons ban is a step towards mass confiscation of tens of millions of semi-automatic firearms\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/06\\\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/06\\\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/06\\\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/peace-152805_1280.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/peace-152805_1280.png\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":640},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/06\\\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u2018Assault Weapons\u2019 Ban: First Step on the Road to Tyranny\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"James Bovard\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\",\"name\":\"Jim\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Jim\"},\"description\":\"Bovard's homepage is at http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com He can be contacted at jim@jimbovard.com James Bovard is the author of ten books. The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \\\"the roving inspector general of the modern state\\\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \\\"one-man truth squad.\\\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism & Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \\\"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\\\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. Bovard\u2019s writings have been publicly denounced by FBI director Louis Freeh, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as by many congressmen and other malcontents.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/jim.bovard\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/jimbovard\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018Assault Weapons\u2019 Ban: First Step on the Road to Tyranny - James Bovard","description":"Biden's proposed assault weapons ban is a step towards mass confiscation of tens of millions of semi-automatic firearms","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/06\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2018Assault Weapons\u2019 Ban: First Step on the Road to Tyranny - James Bovard","og_description":"Biden's proposed assault weapons ban is a step towards mass confiscation of tens of millions of semi-automatic firearms","og_url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/06\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\/","og_site_name":"James Bovard","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard","article_published_time":"2022-06-06T14:15:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-06-06T14:21:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/peace-152805_1280.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Jim","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@jimbovard","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jim","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/06\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/06\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\/"},"author":{"name":"Jim","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"headline":"\u2018Assault Weapons\u2019 Ban: First Step on the Road to Tyranny","datePublished":"2022-06-06T14:15:53+00:00","dateModified":"2022-06-06T14:21:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/06\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\/"},"wordCount":1027,"commentCount":7,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/06\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/peace-152805_1280.png","keywords":["assault weapons","Biden","Dianne Feinstein","Duncan Lemp","Freedom","Kamala Harris","Maryland","Montgomery County","second amendment","Thomas Massie","tyranny"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/06\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/06\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\/","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/06\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\/","name":"\u2018Assault Weapons\u2019 Ban: First Step on the Road to Tyranny - James Bovard","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/06\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/06\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/peace-152805_1280.png","datePublished":"2022-06-06T14:15:53+00:00","dateModified":"2022-06-06T14:21:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"description":"Biden's proposed assault weapons ban is a step towards mass confiscation of tens of millions of semi-automatic firearms","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/06\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/06\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/06\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/peace-152805_1280.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/peace-152805_1280.png","width":1280,"height":640},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/06\/assault-weapons-ban-first-step-on-the-road-to-tyranny\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u2018Assault Weapons\u2019 Ban: First Step on the Road to Tyranny"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/","name":"James Bovard","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f","name":"Jim","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","caption":"Jim"},"description":"Bovard's homepage is at http:\/\/www.jimbovard.com He can be contacted at jim@jimbovard.com James Bovard is the author of ten books. The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \"the roving inspector general of the modern state\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \"one-man truth squad.\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism & Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. Bovard\u2019s writings have been publicly denounced by FBI director Louis Freeh, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as by many congressmen and other malcontents.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.jimbovard.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard","https:\/\/x.com\/jimbovard"],"url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17335"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17337,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17335\/revisions\/17337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}