Gingrich: Assault-Weapons Ban Would Punish the ‘Innocent’

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Sunday described the term “assault weapon” as propaganda and said banning them will not lower the murder rate.

“I think we have to look at what’s really going on and not just rush into a 20-year-old idea that didn’t work,” Gingrich said on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” referring to the previous ban that ended in 2004. “Gun murders have gone down since the assault-weapons ban ended.”

He said most of the mass murderers in recent times used weapons obtained legally.

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“Any true military weapon is illegal, has been illegal since 1934,” he said. “The fact is that every political attack, from John F. Kennedy to the present, has involved a weapon which would be legal under Sen. [Dianne] Feinstein’s law.

“What I’m fascinated with is, is the perennial desire to make the innocent have a more complicated life because of a handful who are the guilty rather than focusing on the guilty,” Gingrich added.