In Miller v. Bonata, a federal district court held that California's 30-plus-year ban on assault weapons violates the Second Amendment. In support of his holding, Judge Roger Benitez made the following analogy, in arguing in support of the lack of harm assault weapons pose: "More people have died from the Covid-19 vaccine than mass shootings in California."
Judge Benitez is wrong, and it's not even a close case.
There have been, at most, three deaths that may be linked to the COVID-19 vaccine in the entire country. Nine people alone died in last month's San Jose mass shooting. In total, 25 Californians have died in a mass shooting so far this year, representing almost nine percent of the 283 mass shooting victims nationwide (not to mention the additional 1,005 wounded).It's okay to be pro-guns, pro-Second Amendment, and even pro-assault weapons. (For the record, I'm not a gun person, understand the importance of the Second Amendment, and don't understand why anyone needs an assault weapon of any kind).
It's not okay, however, to bolster your support with misinformation about the safety of a vaccine that's trying to end a global pandemic. The two are simply not comparable, and by using bogus stats about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine, you will only add to the death toll from a virus that has already claimed too many.
* Photo by Marisol Benitez on Unsplash