how foolish was the '94 so called "assualt weapons" ban?

[twoguns]

This is part one of a series of articles explaining how foolish the ban was. Feel good legislation does no one any good but diminishes our RTKBA.

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-ass...inglepage=true

The Assault Weapons Ban: How Silly Was It? (Part One)
With the Obama admin and a Washington Post editorial calling for its reinstatement — amidst a tie-in to the Gunwalker scandal — it's worth revisiting the boneheaded law.
July 6, 2011 - 12:00 am - by Bob Owens
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U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, February 26, 2009:

As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons.

The fabled “assault weapons ban.”

Few laws ever passed have been as idolized — and misunderstood — as Title XI of the Federal Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Subtitle A (the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act).

To listen to the Obama administration, the media, or the nominated head of the ATF spin it, the ban made it illegal to purchase machine guns, and outlawed the ownership or use of high-capacity magazines, saving billions, perhaps trillions, of lives.

That mischaracterization is as wrong as it is laughable. The law had nothing to do with machine guns and real military-issue assault rifles, and did nothing to measurably impact violent crime.

The purpose of the law was to ban the sale and importation of certain semi-automatic (one bullet fired per trigger pull) firearms by name, and a wider group of firearms that had an arbitrarily selected list of largely cosmetic features. These features did not affect the rate of fire, accuracy, or range of the firearms impacted. Firearms were determined to be “assault weapons” — a term that was created by the law itself — if it had two or more of the following features:

Semi-automatic rifles able to accept detachable magazines and two or more of the following:

Folding or telescoping stock
Pistol grip
Bayonet mount
Flash suppressor, or threaded barrel designed to accommodate one
Grenade launcher (more precisely, a muzzle device which enables the launching or firing of rifle grenades)

Semi-automatic pistols with detachable magazines and two or more of the following:

Magazine that attaches outside the pistol grip
Threaded barrel to attach barrel extender, flash suppressor, handgrip, or suppressor
Barrel shroud that can be used as a hand-hold
Unloaded weight of 50 oz (1.4 kg) or more
A semi-automatic version of an automatic firearm

Semi-automatic shotguns with two or more of the following:

Folding or telescoping stock
Pistol grip
Fixed capacity of more than 5 rounds
Detachable magazine

It was a law passed by lawmakers who desired to “do something,” but who didn’t have the expertise or intelligence to pass a law with any real meaning or measurable impact. It resulted in a 10-year timeframe where this …

… was an “assault weapon,” but this …

… was not.

These rifles are identical in every regard except that the rifle on the top has a small bit of metal under the front sight to which a bayonet could attach, and a small vented tube on the end of the barrel that redirects unburned gases.

Both are AR-15-pattern rifles that came off the same assembly line, fire the exact same ammunition, and use the same magazines.

The former was criminalized for ultimately absurd reasons, so that lawmakers could claim they were doing something about gun violence. Both were legal to sell, buy, and possess during the life of the ban.

The story was the same for almost every weapon impacted by the law. The offending cosmetics were removed, and the same weapon was sold under a different model number for the duration of the ban — while the “pre-ban” versions became items of interest and demand merely because of the additional features.

Instead of having having an impact on the reduction of gun crime, the “assault weapon ban” instead became a near-comical example of the law of unintended consequences. Prior to the introduction of the legislation, demand for the firearms that became the subject of the ban was relatively light. The public’s interest was piqued, and sales skyrocketed, directly as a result of the law. These firearms had almost no statistical representation in crimes (which the National Institute of Justice admitted two years later), and interest in them grew both before the ban and after it was enacted. One of the unintended consequences of the law was that these firearms that had had a small role at the fringes of the marketplace were suddenly desired by millions.

The assault weapons ban didn’t reduce the number of military-style semi-automatic firearms. It greatly increased their numbers, their public acceptance, and had the effect of mainstreaming them, “pre-ban” rifles and cosmetically de-enhanced “post-ban” rifles alike. Thanks to the “ban,” AR-15 pattern rifles are now among the most popular rifles in America, and have been mainstreamed even among the change-resistant hunting fraternity as “modern sporting rifles.”

So if the ten-year ban period did not see a substantial reduction in gun crimes committed with the kind of firearms banned, and the expiration of the law in 2004 did not result in a massive upswing in violence even after these firearms achieved mainstream popularity and acceptance, why would the Obama administration be so strongly in favor of advocating for a renewal of the ban?

That is something we hope to resolve in Part 2.
Bob Owens blogs at Confederate Yankee and Bob's Gun Counter.

[Ricochet]

I dont condone breaking the law.

But I am an honest person.
And honestly, I put the folding stocks and had flash hiders on my guns during that fiasco.

I used to shoot at a range where the MDSP would often train at (Elk Neck forest in North East MD) and they didn't give a damn.
hell most of them had illegal "Assault Weapons" in their personal collections and laughed about it.

As a matter of fact, I dont think a single person was ever even arrested for violeting the rules of that act.

[tsafa]

This is the reason we need to pack the Senate with as many Pro-Gun Rights Senators as possible this fall.

[bluedog46]

This is proof that you just cant put certain people in charge. He gets a second term not only will he find a way to give illegals amnesty but the ( readers choice) will also throw the constitution down the toilet. Next to the authentic Obama dolls

[chazman21]

86! The May 19,1986

Then we are getting some were!

[EvoRich]

How do pistols grips and folding stocks may a gun any deadlier?

[twoguns]

How do pistols grips and folding stocks may a gun any deadlier?

This is exactly the point. They don't. This was a bit of legislation cobbled together by a bunch of folks who nothing about guns. It was a "feel-good" measure to make it look as if they are doing something about the evil black rifles that kill people.

The funny part about it all is the fact that the ban drove more people to want that type of gun because they felt they may not have an opportunity to own them in the future. More people own firearms of military pattern now than ever before. This type of legislation send shock waves through the gun world and drives up sales of guns, ammo and all things related to same.

Americans will not be disarmed no matter what legislation is passed.

"an act of congress repugnant to the Constitution can not become law."
MARBURY -V- MADISON
1Cranch 137 (1803)

[The_War_Wagon]

Yeah - Lord knows we have ENTIRELY too many fatalities related to the "shoulder thing that goes up."

Sit & twirl DEMOCRAPS - hope you're looking forward to getting your asses kicked DAILY by the people you made homeless & unemployed, while YOU'RE standing in the soup kitchen line, come January, 2013.

[Ten*K]

How do pistols grips and folding stocks may a gun any deadlier?

Because... You are going to need facepalm for this... They allow you to spray fire from the hip.

A statement that herrps so hard it derrps.

[VeritasAequitas]

Never again. Let them attempt to implement more sweepingly unConstitutional measures.