Assault weapons ban comes to end: A dud?

This was emailed to me by my buddy Mike Sid;

By Deborah Sontag The New York Times, APRIL 25, 2005 (subset)

Despite dire predictions that America's streets would be awash in military-style guns, the expiration of the decade-long assault weapons ban in September has not set off a sustained surge in the weapons' sales, gun makers and sellers say. It also has not caused any noticeable increase in gun crime in the past seven months, according to several city police departments.

The uneventful expiration of the assault weapons ban did not surprise gun owners, nor did it surprise some advocates of gun control. It underscored what many of them had said all along: The ban was porous - so porous that assault weapons remained widely available throughout their prohibition.

Shut your freakin' pie-hole ya skank! 'Assault weapons' are full auto's (that's machines guns to you others) - B

"The whole time that the American public thought there was an assault weapons ban, there never really was one," said Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center, a gun- control group. What's more, law-enforcement officials say that military-style weapons, which were never used in many gun crimes but did enjoy some vogue in the years before the ban took effect, seem to have gone out of style in criminal circles.

"Back in the early '90s, criminals wanted those Rambo-type weapons they could brandish," said Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police. "Today they are much happier with a 9-millimeter handgun they can stick in their belt."

Well Duh! It's a helluva lot easier to conceal a Glock than it is a AK-47 - B

When the ban took effect in 1994, it exempted more than 1.5 million assault weapons in private hands. Over the next 10 years, at least 1.17 million more assault weapons were prod- uced - legitimately - by manufacturers that availed themselves of loopholes in the law, according to an analysis of firearms production data by the Violence Policy Center.

Oh here we go again! 'Loopholes', if it served a Liberal anti-gun agenda it wouldn't be called a 'loophole', it would be called 'complying with the law' - B

Throughout the decade-long ban, for instance, the gun manu- facturer DPMS/Panther Arms of Minnesota continued selling assault rifles to civilians by the tens of thousands. In compliance with the ban, the firearms manufacturer "sporterized" the military- style weapons, sawing off bayonet lugs, securing stocks so they were not collapsible and adding muzzle brakes. But the changes did not alter the guns' essence; they were still semiautomatic rifles with pistol grips.

Ha bitch! You just said 'in compliance'. So bayonet lugs, 'secured stocks' and muzzle breaks are OK. Can you please explain why a fucking pistol grip on a semi-auto rifle is so bad? Moron. - B

After the ban expired in September, DPMS reintroduced its full- featured weapons to the civilian market and enjoyed a slight spike in sales. But that increase was short-lived, and predictably so, said Randy Luth, the company's owner. "I never thought the sunset of the ban would be that big a deal," he said.

It is a big deal fucknut! We have just proved it did NOTHING! - B

No gun production data are available for the seven months since the ban expired. And some gun-control advocates say they do not trust the self-reporting of gun industry representatives, who may want to play down the volume of their sales to ward off a revival of the ban.

A replica of the ban is again before the Senate. "In my view, the assault weapons legislation was working," said Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, a chief sponsor of the new bill. "It was drying up supply and driving up prices. The number of those guns used in crimes dropped because they were less available."

Assault weapons account for a small fraction of gun crimes: about 2 percent, according to most studies, and no more than 8 percent. But they have been used in many high-profile shooting sprees.

OK, let's look at these last two paragraphs; Diane 'If I had my way, Mr and Mrs America turn them all in' Feinstein the woman who wants to repeal the 2nd amendment, says it's 'working' when the next paragraph it states only 2% (actually less according to the FBI) of all gun related crimes use them. The tactic is to start on the scary looking stuff to fool the ignorant and then go after everything else. -B

Gun crime in the United States has plummeted since the early 1990s. But a study for the National Institute of Justice said that it could not "clearly credit the ban with any of the nation's recent drop in gun violence."

Gee, y'think it might have to do with more states allowing their citizens to carry concealed weapons? - B