It's time to show all you assault rifle hating flower weenies the truth!!!!

[Shi Huangdi]

Real Assault weapons have been banned since the 1930's, this banned the manufacture of certain guns with irrelevant characteristics. The backers of the bill admitted that the ban was largely symbolic.

[Ted Striker]

I remember the height of the crime wave in the early 90s, I distinctly recall two separate episodes where hand grenades were used in drive bys.

Yikes!

[Joseph]

Originally posted by Ted Striker
assaut weapons

[Ted Striker]

[Sikander]

Originally posted by GePap
Thank God we can allow any jokel to buy fully automatic weapons again- I mean,without them, wehat are terrorists going to use to kill us?

No fully automatic weapons or selective fire weapons were banned by this bill. This bill banned a few semi-automatic carbines (out of many on the market) because they looked bad. Literally. Like those TEC 9s, one of which was used at Columbine. The TEC 9 is actually less functional than a policeman's sidearm in every way. It is less concealable because of the bulky magazine, you can't effectively fire it with one hand because it is unbalanced by the bulky magazine, and it is too small to be effectively fire with two hands. It's a complete piece of crap, but appealed to the two morons who did the Columbine killings and to the equally clueless folks who wrote up this ban.

Just to be clear. No fully automatic or selective fire weapons are legally sold in the U.S. to civilians who don't hold special licenses like security companies or Hollywood special effect companies. The reason there is so much confusion is that the anti-gun rights side along with their willing backers in the press have succeeded in changing the meaning of the terms "assault weapon" and "assault rifle". These terms used to mean selective fire infantry weapons like the AK-47, or the M-14, G-3, M-16 etc. Now this term applies to semi-automatic carbines which may or may not be versions of these weapons with semi-auto only receivers. It could also apply to other semi-auto carbines with detachable box or even integral box magazines.

These sorts of weapons have been traditionally legal in the U.S. since they were invented about a century ago. The banned weapons had no particular characteristics which seperated them from other semi-automatic weapons other than a subjective "scariness" factor.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara

No. The ones that were banned were banned because they were easily concealable, had flash suppressors, and had magazines of more than ten bullets. These were not weapons for people who like to hunt animals, but for people who like to hunt humans.

Show me the constitutional amendment that protects our right to hunt. It says the right to keep and bear arms, and the purpose is to make the citizenry capable of a greater degree of self-defense.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse
I can't see any justification at all for citizens to own military style assault rifles or other automatic weapons.

Then you'd be happy to know that the U.S. doesn't allow its citizens to do so.

[Dr Strangelove]

If there are other bills on the books which ban automatic weapons and this bill is primarily symbolic then what's the point of making an effort of prevernting its passage?

[Tattila the Hun]

Bad PR?

[Az]

So are assault rifles legal now?

[GePap]

Originally posted by Sikander


Show me the constitutional amendment that protects our right to hunt. It says the right to keep and bear arms, and the purpose is to make the citizenry capable of a greater degree of self-defense.

A bunch of guys with assault rifles would be no more effective in fighting the US military here in the US than they are in Iraq, and given:

1. The guys in Iraq have more access to heavy explosives and fully automatic weapons than Mr. John Q public here

2. If it came to people in the US needing to fight the Army at home, then you can count the military being more brutal here than we are in Iraq right now

any militai today would be soundly beaten in any pitched battle and would have to resort to, well, terrorism to win anything.

The 'self defense" arguement is thin at best, and the ban made sense, because as Che said, it was not simply based on hopw something looked- it banned clips over 10 rounds and flash suppressors and shortened stocks.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Sikander
It says the right to keep and bear arms, and the purpose is to make the citizenry capable of a greater degree of self-defense.

The purpose of which was to insure a large body of armed men so that the states would have a ready reserve of men should the Republic be invaded so that the Federal government would not need to keep a large military. We have a large military and no longer have civilian militias (that aren't connected to white supremecist secessionist movements).

Citizen militias stand no chance against the modern American military.

[GePap]

Just imagine- joe bob, out there with his gun, just waiting for them black UN helicopters to come out- when all of a sudden those dreadful and evil feds, just have a B-52 carpetbomb his position. That new assault rifle sure was able to stop those feds

[pchang]

Hunter with poor aim need automatic weapons to even the odds.

[GePap]

For all the hubbub about the citizen farmer militias, even back in 1776, when a militia man could get his hands on weapons even more effective than those of regular soldiers, only when heavily entrenched or with superior numbers and terrain were militias able to take on trained regiments. It was only after the Continentals put together their own regular army that they stood a chance, and it was this regular army,with help of regular French Regiments, that beat the English, not a bunch of militias.

Today, given the militias would lack artillery, armor, airpower, have some anti-aircraft abilities versun low-flying planes and helicopters but not against high flying planes, and that is not even considering that the evil feds would resort to WMD's, they stand no real chance. The only thing that would overturn the regime would be a general revolution, with the masses on the streets and the army and national guard turning against the regime. And that being so, yokels with assault rifles would be unnecessary.