President Obama has proposed the return of the so-called Assault Weapons Ban.
The last one expired in 2004, but what did it really ban and how effective was it?
The year was 1994.
President Clinton signed into law the Violent Crime control and Law Enforcement Act, which had within it, the prohibition of certain rifles and ammunition magazines.
“This is an early version of the AR15, and it would have been covered under the old assault weapons ban. And this magazine which holds 20 rounds would have been illegal. The limit then was 10.”
19 specific guns were banned like the AR-15, the civilian version of the M-16, AK47 and its clones, the  Israeli UZI and others.
But specifically, there were some characteristic that they couldn’t have.
A bayonet lug, flash hider or pistol grip were taboo under the law, though if any two of the three were absent, the gun was legal.
That means the same guns were produced with slight modifications to remove the offending characteristics.
Pistols were also affected.
The limit of 10 rounds to a magazine only pertained to new production. There were so many on the market at that time, that even in 10 years, buyers didn’t run out of magazines to buy.
And since these guns aren’t used very often in crimes, the crime states from that period changed little.
Which, for gun advocates and opponents alike, begs the question, what was the point?