The Real Deal on the Assualt Weapons Ban

Before I go to the basement to confront Shelob, I wanted to post this article from Larry Elder on the assualt weapons ban.

As I was browsing the Washington Times online when I came across Elder's name on their commentary page. I have been seeing ads for Larry Elder having a daytime talk show, so I was a bit skeptical. I then clicked link for Larry, and came across this great article:

In 1994, Congress passed and President Clinton signed a 10-year ban on so-called "assault weapons." In reality, the bill outlawed certain semiautomatic weapons with cosmetic features that made them look, well, military.

The law banned the manufacture and importation of 19 specific models of military-style semiautomatic rifles, and limited the size of clips to 10 rounds. It also prohibited rifles with two or more of the following features — collapsible stock, pistol grip, flash suppressor, bayonet mount or grenade launcher.

The outlawed guns featured the same power as, for example, semiautomatic deer rifles, and they functioned exactly the same. But in the real world, criminals prefer either concealable handguns or illegal automatic weapons, so the banned ones failed to deter crime. Surveys of weapons seized during arrests in California, for example, found criminals used these cosmetic "assault weapons" in approximately 2 percent of crimes.

Yet many mistakenly say the 1994 law outlawed automatic weapons — those in which rounds continue firing until the trigger is released. Some television and newspaper reports even showed videos and photos of weapons banned prior to the 1994 law, such as Uzis and AK-47s. Even the semiautomatic versions — those with one round released with each pull of the trigger — were already outlawed under a 1989 import ban and remain illegal. A 1986 law banned production of all new automatic weapons, grandfathered existing automatic weapons and established strict procedures for sale of those older guns in states that did not outlaw them altogether. Since 1934, the government has banned fully automatic weapons from civilian use without special permission from the Treasury Department.

Presidential candidate John Kerry jumped on the misinformation bandwagon. "Police officers," Mr. Kerry said, are "begging the president all across our country: Keep this ban in place so we don't have to walk into a drug bust staring down the barrel of a military machine gun, of an Uzi or an AK-47."

Make sure read read the whole article. Very informative. I've always maintained that all these bans on this weapon and that only affect the citizens that are buying guns legally for sport and recreation. Those that are looking for AKs and Uzis aren't going down to their local outfitters and buying them, and no legistlation is going to stop them from getting these illegal weapons.