director of giffords law center and joins me from san francisco. thanks for being here with us. you ve been working for years to fight for gun safety. i want to start by getting your reaction to this setback and what effect it might have. this is an incredibly disappointing decision. it is completely an outlier from other decisions federal courts have issued ruling on the validity of assault weapons bans. it s an inappropriate and alarming decision and obviously one we re very disappointed in but one we don t expect will carry on as it goes up through the appeal process. among the many mass shootings i had the misfortune to comer from california, i was in san bernardino where the killers used ar-15 style rifles bought legally despite the ban. one constitutional expert i spoke to who agreed with the general principles expressed in this ruling felt this idea of so-called assault rifles, a sort of artificial distinction,
other decisions federal courts have issued ruling on the validity of assault weapons bans. it s an inappropriate and alarming decision and obviously one we re very disappointed in but one we don t expect will carry on as it goes up through the appeal process. among the many mass shootings i had the misfortune to comer from california, i was in san bernardino, ar-15 style rifles bought legally despite the ban, one constitutional expert i spoke to who agreed with the general principles expressed in this ruling felt this idea of so-called assault rifles, an art distinction that doesn t have much practical merit and the bans haven t shown any significant effect in preventing mass shootings. is there any proof that they even work? there is absolutely proof that these restrictions do work. so i find that factual inaccuracy to be really disappointing to hear.