Hate crimes and gun violence are back in the news recently with the deadly shooting at a mosque in San Diego. Whether the target is religious, ethnic, racial or marginalized groups, including LGBTQ+, the use of a firearm makes the attacks significantly more deadly. Unfortunately, violent extremists often have no difficulty obtaining lethal weapons in our country. More than 25,000 hate crimes involve firearms each year. Federal law bars felons from owning a gun, but a loophole allows those convicted of misdemeanors to own firearms. Many hate crimes are punished as misdemeanors in our country. Overall, only half of our states prohibit people with hate crime convictions from owning firearms. Passing “Disarm Hate” legislation at the Federal and state level is needed to prohibit individuals convicted of violent misdemeanor hate crimes from purchasing or possessing firearms.
Our nation’s history is replete with mass casualty hate crimes involving firearms, including assault weapons. In June 2015, a white supremacist used a Glock handgun to kill nine African-American parishioners at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. In June 2016, 49 patrons of a gay nightclub were killed in Orlando. The gunman used semi-automatic weapons. In October 2018, a man killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, in the deadliest attack on a Jewish community in American history. The motive was antisemitism and white supremacy. The attacker was armed with an AR-15. In May 2002, a white supremacist killed 10 Black people in a Buffalo supermarket using an assault weapon.
As these examples show, hate crimes frequently involve the use of powerful assault rifles. Renewing the assault weapons ban would certainly be helpful in reducing these mass casualty crimes. All of the top ten deadliest mass shootings since 2010 were committed with assault rifles. The US is the only advanced country that fails to restrict weapons of war like the AR-15 style rifles. During the 10 years that we had a federal ban, mass shooting fatalities dropped and fatal mass shootings were about 70% less likely to occur. After the ban lapsed, the number of mass shootings skyrocketed by over 300%. Sales of assault rifles also surged after the ban ended, with a staggering 20 million assault weapons now privately owned in the United States.
Other avenues to help reduce the use of firearms in the commission of hate crimes are to authorize extreme risk protection orders (also known as “Red Flag” laws), which allow family members and law enforcement to petition courts to temporarily remove firearms from individuals who show warning signs of violence or extremist behaviors. Ensuring that all gun sales are subject to a background check can also help prevent the use of firearms in hate crimes. Prohibiting the public carrying of firearms at vulnerable civic spaces, such as protests and election sites, to limit intimidation and harassment, should also be encouraged.
Hateful bias and easy access to firearms are a deadly combination. We all need to encourage our legislators to take reasonable, sensible action to help prevent hate from turning deadly with the use of firearms. Several informational sources can be helpful in educating ourselves on solutions to violent hate crimes, including Giffords Law Center Hate Crimes and Everytown for Gun Safety. Let’s work together to protect the vulnerable among us.
Patricia Shoap is a retired attorney and member of Gettysburg for Gun Sense.
