The History of the ‘Assault Weapon’ Hoax. Part 1: The Crime that Started it All
9th March 2018
The “assault weapon” controversy first became a national issue in January 1989, when a career criminal murdered five children at school playground in Stockton, California. The failures of law enforcement before and during that crime—and the media and political failures thereafter—were similar to those related to the recent murders in Parkland, Florida. These failures are part of the reason why school shootings, and other mass attacks, persist in the United States today.
This article is the first in a series detailing the “assault weapon” hoax from 1989 to the present.