Identify the logical fallacy for the following:
(1) Bans on so-called assault weapons must be vigorously opposed. Once the
gun-grabbing liberals have outlawed assault weapons, next they’ll go after
handguns. After that, it will be shotguns and semiautomatic hunting rifles. In
the end, law-abiding citizens will be left totally defenseless against predatory
criminals and a tyrannical government.
(2) Look, the choice is simple. Either you support a pure free-market
economy or you support a communist police state. Surely you don’t support
a communist police state. Therefore, you should support a pure free-market
economy.
Answers
Answer:
The Liberal government is prohibiting hundreds of “military-grade assault rifles“ – including two of the firearms used in last month’s mass shooting in Nova Scotia – partly fulfilling a long-standing pledge to ban a style of gun that has become associated with mass shootings worldwide.
But rather than instituting a promised program that would require owners to surrender their guns in exchange for government compensation to remove them from civilian circulation, the government said on Friday the program will be voluntary. Current owners will be allowed to keep their guns beyond a two-year amnesty period.
Groups on both sides of the rancorous gun debate expressed dismay over the new measures.
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“A partial buyback would be just one more disappointment in our 30-year battle for gun control,” said Nathalie Provost, who was struck four times in the 1989 École Polytechnique shooting and is a spokeswoman for the gun-control advocacy group Poly Remembers. “This could mean that tens of thousands of assault weapons will remain in the hands of their current owners, for generations.”
Gun enthusiasts, meanwhile, are “enraged and infuriated" and promising legal challenges, said Tony Bernardo, executive director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau evoked several Canadian mass shootings – including last month’s tragedy in Nova Scotia – as he announced the measures on Friday morning. “The vast majority of gun owners use them safely, responsibly and in accordance with the law – whether it be for work, for sport-shooting, for collecting or for hunting,” he said. “But you do not need an AR-15 to bring down a deer.”
Effective immediately, Ottawa will ban the use and sale of the AR-15 and about 1,500 other models and variants of military-style rifles, a move he said would close “the market for military-grade assault weapons in Canada.”
Senior officials who spoke on background at a technical briefing said at least 105,000 restricted firearms held by 72,000 owners will come under the ban. The total number is likely much higher. Many newly banned models are currently classified as non-restricted long-guns. The government has not been able to track their numbers since the long-gun registry was scrapped in 2014.
Details of the ban shocked firearms businesses, which suddenly have millions of dollars in unsellable inventory.
“It’s much more sweeping than we expected,” said Alison De Groot, managing director of the Canadian Sporting Arms and Ammunition Association. “Based on the list, we estimate there is about $200-million to $300-million in inventory in the supply chain right now that cannot be sold.”
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