Diana Kastenbaum is the Moms Demand Action-endorsed candidate for New York’s 24th Congressional District and she is pushing for a ban on all semiautomatic firearms.
Semiautomatic firearms which actions designed to eject a spent shell casing after a bullet is fired and place a fresh cartridge into battery so the gun is ready to shoot again. Such guns shoot one round, and only one round, with each trigger pull. Semiautomatic pistols are by far the most popular for concealed carry and their popularity with women cannot be overstated, as the semiautomatic action reduces recoil, thereby making it possible for people of smaller stature to comfortably carry and use calibers large enough to stop would-be assailants.
When it comes to rifles, semiautomatic rifles like the AR-15 are among the most popular guns in America. But Kastenbaum referred to such rifles as “assault weapons” during a Tuesday night debate, and made clear she wants to see them banned.
That Batavia Daily News published video of Kastenbaum at the debate, wherein she addressed a question about the 1994-2004 federal “assault weapons” ban by making clear she wants to reinstitute it: “I am absolutely…against ‘assault weapons.’ I think that they should be banned. We need a ban back in place.”
She went to say she also wants “more mental health dollars going to people.”
Kastenbaum then meandered mentally and linguistically, saying, “Every single shooting we see, mass shootings, it’s with automatic weapons. It’s with ‘assault rifles.’ I think we need to get them off our streets. We need a ban.”
After Kastenbaum’s primary opponent Alissa Ellman countered her, suggesting Kastenbaum does not understand the difference between automatic and semiautomatic firearms and intimating that the left is banning things they do not understand.
Kastenbaum responded by claiming there are different definitions on gun types. She said, “I actually think that ‘assault weapons’ also mean semiautomatics. And those are the ones that have been used to kill in these mass shootings.”
She then said, “I want to say I am for the Second Amendment, but I am definitely against ‘assault weapons’ [and] that means semiautomatics also.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. He is a lever action man in an AR-15 world. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at [email protected].
Read the full article here