Sen. Chuck Grassley, you ought to be ashamed for making such a foolish statement as reported last week in the New York Times — that you won’t vote for a gun bill that outlaws assault weapons because it didn’t work last time.

A long-range, independent study issued as Congress allowed the ban to expire in 2004 found criminal use of assault weapons had fallen by one-third or more as a share of gun crimes in major jurisdictions. Also, The Police Executive Research Forum in 2010 stated that “after the ban expired, 37 percent of police departments reported noticeable increases in criminals’ use of assault weapons.”

In Virginia, the number of guns with high-capacity magazines seized by police dropped after they were included in the 1994 ban, but then rebounded sharply after the ban expired, according to a 2011 study by the Washington Post. Maryland enacted its own more stringent ban on assault weapons in 1994 and a 55 percent drop in assault pistols from crime scenes was reported by the Baltimore police.

If you wish to represent Iowans, please inform yourself on the issues.

Also: Why would anyone other than the police or military need an assault weapon or a gun with more than six bullets?

Henry T. Madden

Iowa City