I swear to God guys we really have been here before

[RSillsbee]

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The Federal Assault Weapons Ban (AWB) (or Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act) was a subtitle of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, a federal law in the United States that included a prohibition on the manufacture for civilian use of certain semi-automatic firearms, so called "assault weapons." There was no legal definition of "assault weapons" in the U.S. prior to the law's enactment. The 10-year ban was passed by Congress on Sept. 13, 1994, and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton the same day. The ban only applied to weapons manufactured after the date of the ban's enactment.

The Federal Assault Weapons Ban expired Sept. 13, 2004, as part of the law's sunset provision. There have been multiple attempts to renew the ban <1> with no bill reaching the floor for a vote.

The act addressed only semi-automatic firearms, that is, firearms that fire one shot each time the trigger is pulled. Neither the AWB nor its expiration changed the legal status of fully automatic firearms, which fire more than one round with a single trigger-pull; these have been regulated by the National Firearms Act of 1934 and Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986.

The act separately defined and banned "large capacity ammunition feeding devices", which generally applied to magazines or other ammunition feeding devices with capacities of greater than an arbitrary number of rounds and which up to the time of the act had been considered normal or factory magazines. These ammunition feeding devices were also referred to in the media and popular culture as "high capacity magazines or feeding devices." Depending on the locality and type of firearm, the cutoff between a "normal" capacity and "high" capacity magazine was 3, 7, 10, 12, 15, or 20 rounds. The now defunct federal ban set the limit at 10 rounds.

During the period in which the AWB was in effect, it was illegal to manufacture any firearm that met the law's definition of an "assault weapon" or "large capacity ammunition feeding device", except for export or for sale to a government or law enforcement agency. Possession of illegally imported or manufactured firearms was outlawed as well, but the law did not ban the possession or sale of pre-existing "assault weapons" or previously factory standard magazines which had been legally redefined as "large capacity ammunition feeding devices". This provision for "pre-ban" firearms created a higher price point in the market for such items, which lasted until the ban's sunset.

Opponents of the ban claimed that its expiration has seen little if any increase in crime, while Senator Feinstein claimed the ban was effective because "It was drying up supply and driving up prices. The number of those guns used in crimes dropped because they were less available."<2> The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) stated it "can in no way vouch for the validity" of Brady Campaign's claim that the ban was responsible for violent crime's decline.<3>

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied the "assault weapon" ban and other gun control schemes, and found "insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of any of the firearms laws reviewed for preventing violence."<4>

The "ban" had no effect on crime then and it won't affect it now. All it will do is drive up the price of "high capacity magazines" and hand control of the government to the Repugs.

This isn't speculation it's history

ETA A lot more of the wiki article got posted than I intended. sorry

[lawodevolution]

1. yep and this is the exact reason that I went from owning zero high cap magazines

to owning so many now that I'd freak most of you out if you peaked into my gun safes. So the antis did a good job selling a lot of high cap magazines back then and with another attempt at exploiting tragedy the antis may have boosted sales again.

[LAGC]

2. The fastest way for Democrats to lose control of the Senate...

Would be to re-attempt to pass this "feel good" monstrosity again.

Hopefully we've learned enough from recent history not to travel down that road.

[X_Digger]

3. One significant change this time?

Rep Carolyn "the shoulder thing that goes up" McCarthy wants to make sure you can never transfer your 10+ round magazine to anyone else.

[Zoeisright]

4. Yes we have.

And many more people have been killed by guns in the meantime. 82 Americans every single day. And the NRA and gun pornographers bear much of the blame for this bloodshed.

Why don't you do a little research at a CREDIBLE source and look at how effective gun control laws are in other countries? Wikileaks is about as credible as Sarah Palin on how to be a good parent.

[PavePusher]

5. Do other countries have 300 million, mostly unregistered, guns?

Do they have armed populations with a known history of kicking their government in the teeth when it was deemed neccesary?

"gun pornographers"? What exactly do you mean by that?

P.S. What do you suggest as a "CREDIBLE source"?

[friendly_iconoclast]

6. An observation and several questions for you.

The murder rate in the latest year available from Department of Justice statistics indicates a significantly lower

murder rate than obtained in the year before the AWB was passed.


We know what the NRA is- but what are "gun pornographers"? And why do you blame them for people getting killed with guns?

Wouldn't that be like blaming Hot Rod and Car and Driver for traffic deaths?

Why don't you do a little research at a CREDIBLE source and look at how effective gun control laws are in other countries? Wikileaks is about as credible as Sarah Palin on how to be a good parent.

That's a genetic fallacy. Why don't you tell us what is inaccurate about the OP, instead? And I have two words that tell me

what I need to know about how effective gun control laws are all by themselves: Mexico and Jamaica.

[RSillsbee]

7. CDC Not "credible" enough for you ?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied the "assault weapon" ban and other gun control schemes, and found "insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of any of the firearms laws reviewed for preventing violence."<4>