Historian: Bill Clinton Made ‘Assault Weapons’ Popular by Banning Them

Military historian Martin KA Morgan suggests “assault weapons” are in high demand in the second decade of the 21st century largely because of Bill Clinton’s efforts to ban them in the last decade.

Morgan says there was little demand for the weapons prior to the 1990s–“lukewarm interest” at best–which changed once Bill Clinton signed the 1994 “assault weapons” ban.

According to The Guardian, Morgan intimates that the effort to ban AR-15s and AK-47s was transformative; it birthed a climate where “semi-automatic, magazine-fed rifles … dominate the market.” He said, “My overwhelming impression is that the 1994 Clinton crime bill created this new world where everyone owns a AR-15 type rifle.”

The article reports:

“I believe it created a category of gun ownership that didn’t exist before. These were casual, recreational shooters that might not have gone out of the way to put down money for something like that,” Morgan said.

“I believe that we can assign Freudian psychology to it. The sudden placement of taboo on that firearm elevated demand.”

Morgan’s theory is bolstered by past reports in The New York Times. For example, in September 2014, the NYT reported the phrase “assault weapons” was part of a “myth” pushed by Democrats to secure a ban on “a politically defined category of guns.”

The title alone for the NYT piece speaks volumes: “The Assault Weapon Myth.”

Morgan points out that the demand for “assault weapons” has yet to plateau; it “is expanding to this day.” And he contends that the expansion is driven by 21st century Democrats who keep pushing to reinstitute the ban Clinton enacted in 1994.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.