No gun sense

Politicians’ insistence on improving access to high-velocity assault guns defies decency.

When a bullet from a high-velocity assault rifle strikes the soft, moist texture of human flesh, it is as if a bomb went off. It blasts a massive hole, destroying surrounding tissue so completely that it often cannot be repaired. Any organ in its path — the liver, kidney, lungs, heart, brain — disintegrates.

And the bullet doesn’t have to strike the organ to pulverize it. Because it hits the body with so much force, it creates a violent ripple effect known as cavitation that can explode organs in its wake. Cavitation will also burst arteries and vessels, releasing a torrent of blood. Bone is pulverized. The damage is so catastrophic, the shooter doesn’t have to aim for a vital organ, he just has to keep pulling the trigger.

This is the kind of weapon that was used in 2012 to kill 20 elementary school children in Newtown, Conn., and last year, 49 revelers at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, and five police officers in Dallas, the worst incident for law enforcement since the Sept. 11 attacks.

The list of tragedies is long and painfully consistent. There have been eight high-profile mass shootings in the past two years, and assault-style rifles were used in seven, according to data compiled by Mother Jones magazine. Just two weeks ago, James T. Hodgkinson opened fire on members of the Republican baseball team at a practice field in Alexandria, Va. Four were wounded, including U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, RLouisiana, who was shot in the hip and was in serious danger of succumbing to his injuries. As of today, Scalise has undergone several surgeries to repair the damage and is improving. His doctors say his will be a lengthy recovery.

We would like to believe that the tragedy visited upon their colleagues and friends on the baseball field would bring our elected representatives to their senses. How could anyone be opposed to sensible laws to control the availability of these lethal weapons? In fact, it has been done. In 1994, Congress passed the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which for 10 years prohibited the manufacture for civilian use of assault weapons and certain large-capacity ammunition magazines. The law expired on Sept. 13, 2004. Since then, the U.S. Congress has been in a frenzy of making these weapons available to as many people as it can, including terrorists on the government no-fly list, people with emotional incapacity so severe they can’t go alone to the bank to cash their disability checks, and men who have been charged with domestic violence.

We know why the National Rifle Association is opposed to any restrictions — profits. The NRA is the lobbying arm of the gun industry, and assault weapons are among the industry’s most popular, most profitable consumer products. As revolting as it may sound, mass shootings are good for business.

Remington Outdoor, maker of the Bushmaster XM-15 assault rifle that was used at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, saw its profits jump thirtyfold the year after the massacre, and the biggest increase in sales was assault rifles. After America’s deadliest mass shooting in Orlando, stock prices for two of the largest gun manufacturers, Sturm Ruger and Smith & Wesson, spiked on a day when broader market averages declined. The NRA gets millions of dollars in contributions from gun manufacturers, so much money that it has repaid that generosity by establishing an exclusive club with membership limited to individuals who give $1 million or more. Many of its members are gun industry executives.

But we are most interested in an explanation from our representatives in Congress who oppose sensible limitations on these deadly weapons. It’s not because they are representing their constituents’ preferences. According to a CBS News poll taken after the Pulse nightclub shooting, 57 percent of voters support bans on assault-style weapons.

Perhaps those opposed genuinely believe terror suspects, for example, have a right to own an assault weapon with a 30-round magazine. Or maybe their opinion has been colored by the $768,662 in NRA contributions to congressional Republicans in 2014 — Democratic candidates got a total of $40,800. Either way, continued support for these weapons is getting harder and harder to explain. To parents in Newtown. To survivors in Orlando. To the growing number of families whose loved ones have been mowed down in mass killings. And to the four wounded on the baseball field in Alexandria.