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20 N.Y.U. J. Legis. & Pub. Pol'y 593 (2017)
Why the Civilian Purchase, Use, and Sale of Assault Weapons and Semiautomatic Rifles and Pistols, along with Large Capacity Magazines, Should Be Banned

handle is hein.journals/nyulpp20 and id is 613 raw text is: WHY THE CIVILIAN PURCHASE, USE, AND SALE OF ASSAULT WEAPONS AND SEMIAUTOMATIC RIFLES AND PISTOLS, ALONG WITH LARGE CAPACITY MAGAZINES, SHOULD BE BANNED Donald L. Flexner* In the United States, private citizens can purchase powerful and semi- automatic assault weapons and large capacity magazines. In 1994, Con- gress passed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which imposed a ten-year ban on the civilian use of many such weapons. Upon its expiration in 2004, Congress refused to extend the ban despite repeated calls to do so. In the wake of the law's demise, these dangerous weapons have become widely available to disturbed civilians, gangs, criminals, hate groups, terrorists, and so-called lone wolves. Most recently, a man rented a top floor room in the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in order to kill and wound hundreds of innocent individuals attending an outdoor concert directly below the hotel, using semi-automatic weapons modified with a bump stock to spew thousands of bullets into a crowd of 22,000. This Article explains why nothing in the Second Amendment guar- antees civilian access to the most dangerous weapons and urges Congress to again limit the availability of these dangerous weapons, which have caused countless tragedies. INTRODUCTION................................................. 594 I. HOW THE SECOND AMENDMENT HAS BEEN CONSTRUED AND APPLIED BY THE SUPREME COURT AND BY LOWER COURTS..... ........................................ 597 A. Heller and Its Supreme Court Progeny .......... 597 B. Lower Court Decisions After Heller and McDonald ............................... 600 C. Heller Does Not Preclude the Passage of a New Assault Weapons Ban ............... ........ 602 11. THE ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN AND THE DANGERS IT A DDRESSED ........................................... 603 A. History of the Assault Weapons Ban ............. 604 * Managing Partner of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP. Co-authored by Joshua Libling, Nafees Syed, and Joanna Wright. 593 Imaged with Permission of N.Y.U. Journal of Legislation and Public Policy

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