VPC is Outraged That Not Enough .22 Rifles and Pistols Are Being Banned

While most people mistakenly presume that all assault weapons are rifles, the gun industry also designs and markets assault pistols: which combine the concealability of a handgun with the firepower of an assault weapon. Assault pistols were originally popular in the 1980s, dominated by companies like UZI, MAC, Intratec, and others. They then receded as a class of assault weapon, but are now back as the industry’s latest marketing ploy. And while many of the early assault pistol manufacturers were industry bottom feeders, today they are sold by most major manufacturers, including Ruger, Smith & Wesson, and Beretta.

Second, the assault pistol used in the Shreveport shooting was 22 caliber. Despite its proven ability to kill and maim, the ammunition is wrongly viewed by many as somehow not really being all that lethal because it’s a smaller caliber and commonly used for “plinking” (firing at cans or other targets). This false narrative is actively promoted by pro-gunners, and sometimes acquiesced to by gun violence prevention advocates (for example, flawed assault weapons bans that exempt guns that use .22 ammo with the rationale that that the caliber itself somehow transmogrifies any assault weapon into a “sporting” gun). And because it’s cheaper than most other ammunition, gunmakers today are churning out new assault weapon models chambered in 22 caliber. This includes the Smith & Wesson M&P15-22 model line, which consists of .22 versions of its AR-style M&P assault rifle. In 2022, a standard version of the rifle was used to kill seven and wound 46 at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois.

— Violence Policy Coalition in Report from the NRA’s Annual Meeting: Part Two