Were you a gun owner during the 1994-2004 Assault Weapons Ban?

Were you a gun owner/shooter during the last "Assault Weapons Ban" (1994-2004)?

  • Yes. I owned/shot guns when this ban was initially signed into law.

    Votes: 249 70.9%
  • Yes, but this law was already in place when I began shooting.

    Votes: 45 12.8%
  • No. I started shooting after the ban expired in 2004.

    Votes: 51 14.5%
  • I wasn't aware of the last ban.

    Votes: 6 1.7%

  • Total voters
    351
  • Poll closed .
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What worries me if they pass this again is that some nutjob is going to pull up in front of another building with a truckload of diesel and fertilizer.

I guarantee you that with or without a ban, someone, at some point, will do something in this country that kills a large number of people and does not involve firearms. If you want to kill 1,000 people by yourself, you're not gonna do it with a gun. Small arms are woefully inadequate for exacting truly devastating tolls.
 
When Firearm Owner Protection Act of 1986 was signed I was slightly shocked. No more registrations of new full auto firearms in the US. Many people thought it would be temporary, but it wasn't. The only effect US AWB had on this side of the pond was that new magazines were marked "For law enforcement use only" and you had to have barrels of some guns threaded yourself.

Still, I felt sorry for you guys. The whole AWB seemed to be made by using Guns magazine 1986-1992 annual catalogs as picture books. Utter stupidity.
 
I was in the Army in 94" and when I heard of the proposed AWB, I thought "how stupid can people get. The AWB will never pass." I was the stupid one to underestimate the uninformed public and power hungry politicians.

Later in 2004, I was once again in the Army (in Iraq) and fully expected the AWB to be renewed and made permant. Expecially after Pres.Bush said he would sign it if it passed the House and Senate. Once again I was wrong and oh so glad to be wrong.
 
Yes. I experienced the ban until about 2010. I am a CA refugee.

I was only 14 when the ban sunset, my dad owned guns and I had a 10/22 I received when I turned 7 I think. I remember thinking that civilians could purchase full-auto rifles and what-not but then dad had to explain to me the Federal law, and state law. While most of the country would be free, we in CA would still be viewed as criminals.

I hope to God that another ban does not pass. But I am sensing that something will happen. I also just sold a Saiga 12 for a bit of a loss and if legislation causes prices to skyrocket, I will be extremely mad.
 
I grew up shooting/hunting and bought my first AR just prior to the 94 ban...Think I paid around 1500 for a non-Colt ar back then, nothing special about it, but it was "preban" as it were.

I remember some of my law enforcement friends at the time were unable to buy new regular capacity mags as well, because their agencies didnt want to be responsible for the purchase. It depended on the agency.

I remember a ton of these cheap 9mm type semi auto carbines that were the rage then. Most of them were cheap, and didnt function well (the ones that I got to shoot).

One thing I do remember well, was the intense devisiveness on firearms...The folks who were not interested in stuff like AR's etc, as well as pistols, wouldnt really support trying to repeal the ban, in fact many I knew then supported it, and those that were interested in only firearms like AR's etc, were just trying to keep what they had. I hope firearm owners stand together better this time around instead of dividing into factions as the other side would like.
 
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Plus one bikerdoc. I bought my first .22 rifle at the local hardware store in 1967 at the age of 15. The 1994 AWB was a major inconvience to gun owners and accomplished nothing in crime reduction.
 
The 1994 ban had little or no affect on me. I owned one 9mm semi-auto pistol before the ban and did not have a "need" to purchase any additonal magazines during the ban. I owned a SKS paratrooper (10 round internal magazine) and an AK-47 prior to the ban. I got into some financial straights and sold the AK, it remains in the hands of the person I sold it to and it remains new in the box unfired. So the ban had little effect on me.

Should a similar ban go into place now, I won't like it but it won't affect me that much. I'll buy several "high capacity" magazines for the ploymer framed semi automatic pistol I currently own (brand withheld as it is IRRELEVANT to this discussion) because with proper care that pistol will last me the rest of my lifetime. My other pistols are either revolvers or have less than 10 round magazines already. I don't own any "assault style" rifles.

My bigger concern is such a ban under the current political climate will be the camel's nose under the tent.

If it goes through, I am going to demand that my representatives enact legislation to eliminate vehicles with "high performance" engines and limit gasoline sales to quantities of 5 gallons or less. You just never know when either gas or high powered vehicles are going to hurt innocent people.
 
I remember the news media showing stock footage of full-autos blazing away, as the talking heads started talking about banning semi-automatic assault weapons.

And Josh Sugarmann's famous quote that since military style semi-autos looked like machineguns, it was easy to fool the public into thinking they were banning machineguns.

And New Jersey banning the original .22 LR Marlin Model 60 (18 shot tube) as an assault rifle, and the Governor refusing to relent. One of the most popular small game hunting rifles in the world, 14 million made, an assault weapon?

And I remember that Rupert Murdoch owner of Fox News was a big fan of the ban on semi-autos and pumps in Australia, and has already tweeted it would be a good idea here in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting.

I also resented Dianne Feinstein saying that those of us who tried to comply the law (swapping out barrel band w/o bayonent lug, 10 shot magazine) were just evading the law.
 
I had a Russian SKS with a bayonet and some aftermarket thirty round magazines. I put a synthetic Monte Carlo stock on it, a Bushnell 3-9x scope, bipod and a scope mounted spot light. I hunted coyotes with it. A local sheriff's deputy saw it, asked me what it was and I told him it was none of his business. He didn't push the issue as life flight was landing in my front yard to pick up my roommate who had been injured in a high speed rollover. I actually used the spot light to signal the pilot because the deputy gave terrible directions. I took it off the scope of course.


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I was a gun owner long before the AWB, and had heard all of the other side's lies long before the AWB. I'd also seen the Quislings and the Lord Haw Haws, who wanted "reasonable regulation". NPR put one of them on once, a shotgun shooter who said he'd never own a handgun and was willing to give up his shotguns if anti-gunners REALLY wanted him to.

The calls for "compromise" are just the last gasp of the AHSA fifth columnists. They wanted total capitulation before this. They'll want it in twenty years.

Just remember, there were people who wanted to "cut a deal" with the Axis too.
 
Long before.

Hopefully everybody remembers that the last one was proven to have never prevented a single crime.
Yep, that pretty much sums things up. Yeah, I owned plenty of guns whey that was signed into law. Matter of fact owned a brick and mortar gun shop. Called it feel good and do nothing legislation.

Now once again they will try to legislate morality and good luck on that note.

Just My Take
Ron
 
Deanimators: "I'd also seen the Quislings and the Lord Haw Haws, who wanted "reasonable regulation"."

When we compromise on "reasonable", what is "reasonable" to a prohibitionist is not reasonable to us. Remember, there were people who believed all that "away with whiskey and rum" and woke up to find that Prohibition banned wine and beer too.
 
I'm realizing that there seems to be a contingent of shooters who are willing to make "reasonable" concessions, and others who are not willing to compromise at all.
I am 75. Had guns since I was 15.

One of the advantages/disadvantages of living so long is you know first hand how this country/government/people were many years ago and how they are now.

I am very disappointed in what the American people have become and what they have allowed my country/government to become.


Believe me because I have seen it for over half a Century, there is no such thing as a "reasonable concession" with the people that would limit/take away your Constitutional rights.
They will not stop until there is total distruction of the Constitution and disarmament of civilians in this country.
Lucky for me I will not live to see it.
 
I hope that you folks that think you "weren't affected" by the previous ban were still bothered and insulted by it.

We need to stick together!
 
The last AWB was a joke, mainly because of the grandfather provision. Hi-cap magazines were available, but at increasingly higher prices. That didn't prevent anyone who wanted one from getting one. As for the guns themselves, mostly it was cosmetic features that were banned (prospectively). The main effect was to make "evil black rifles" more desirable and expensive. "Pre-ban" became a term of praise.

Since both sides of the debate went through this experience, and they know the facts and consequences, I fully expect that a new AWB won't contain a grandfather clause (or a "sunset" provision). They might not go as far as outright confiscation, but there might be a "freeze" in which you could keep your EBR, but not be able to sell it or transfer it (even by inheritance) to anybody else. Or, they might just include EBR's along with fully automatic weapons under the National Firearms Act. (Note: This is just the wish list of the antigunners. It's up to us to stop it.)
 
Were you a gun owner during the 1994-2004 Assault Weapons Ban?

Yes and I had zero interest in owning an AR and/or AK until the ban. I actually think the ban fueled AR & AK buying once it expired.
 
Yes Vote

But all I owned at that time were two revolvers, a S&W17 and S&W19. Before moving from NJ to Florida I went shooting at ducks and geese with a Browning A5 that was soon to become an assault weapon in NJ, because it was a semi-auto shotgun. Yeah two shots, 30 inch full choke shotgun. And seeing as it was registered in accordance with NJ law it would have been confiscated. I sold it and moved to Florida before the NJ law went into affect.
From '89 thru '92 I was unarmed. Then came Hurricane Andrew and I figured that having something to protect my cooler and grill from looters made sense. When the AWB was signed is when I bought the first of many rifles I have owned a Ruger Mini 30 which wasn't on the banned list. During the ten years of the ban I purchased many different firearms with full capacity magazine on the used gun market.
Firearms come and go in my house. But during the ban years I was the owner of many with the features that made them evil bullet sprayers. I never killed anything but cardboard and clay targets. Even with the bayonets.
 
I was 13 when the ban was passed, but at the time I already had a 20ga single-shot shotgun my dad had bought me for hunting (and very shortly after he also got me a .30-06 bolt action rifle).

I got several other guns during the ban - the only one of which was really affected by it was a Ruger P-95 (my first handgun) that I bought near 2002 or so.

I couldn't find any easily located factory 15-round mags for the gun, but I was able to order 2 hi-cap ProMag magazines for relatively low cost (mostly due to most people's dislike of the brand). They actually were OK after they got new springs and factory followers.

All my other guns that have hi-caps or would be considered "assault weapons" were purchased afterwards.

These days with me being primarily a handgun shooter the magazines would be primarily what would affect me if a new AWB was passed. Actual "assault weapons" I have no desire to see go but they're also not really my cup of tea (though I do own one AR15 that I bought in 2008 just because I figured I might not be able to in the future).
 
When the last AWB Was passed I already owned several SKS,AK,& ARs. All the ban did was drive up prices! It stopped no killings! Another one is not going to stop anyone from being killed! Our country has alot of problems . But none that a new AWB will solved. I saw a OREGON state official state on CNN that we need armed teachers & parents that have been vetted & trained to volunteer at schools! He stated he already had calls from teachers that carry concealed already & won't the law changed so they can do so leagley. We cannot allow another useless AWB!
 
Hi-cap magazines were available, but at increasingly higher prices. That didn't prevent anyone who wanted one from getting one.

And those who didn't want to pay simply modded the restricted mags. Though the legislation called for magazines to be made in such a way that "altering their capacity would render them useless", one has to remember that a removable magazine is not exactly a complex piece of machinery, and anyone with a modicum of metlaworking knowledge and a few pieces of equipment was able to quickly and easily alter most any restricted magazine to full capacity. It was more involved than clipping a follower or removing a rivet-but not by much.

One only needs a sheet metal break and a brazing torch or small welder to completely manufacture magazine bodies. With a little trial and error, it ain't difficult to get it right.

I actually think the ban fueled AR & AK buying once it expired.

It most certainly did, and the prospect of a new ban each time there are unfavorable election results or a tragedy that the antis exploit innundates that fire with accelerant. They really are their own worst enemy in this regard; Their actions have caused people to desire that which they otherwise may not, for fear that said item may not be available if they one day decide they do want it. Hedging on a grandfather clause, people do everything they can to hoard for themselves, and to flood the market with "pre-ban" items.
 
I was less than a year old when the ban was first enacted so I can't reasonably say I was a gun owner back then. Still, I can say that I don't like the idea of any "assault weapon" ban. I don't think we as a community should compromise, we are often demonized for the actions of a few and branded as monsters for exercising our right to ownership of property. From the inside, I see how compassionate we can be; at the recent Oaks gun show in PA there was a table collecting funds for the families in Connecticut.

But, I digress. I wasn't a gun owner during the previous ban and I plan on doing my part in seeing to the notion that another one never passes.
 
I owned one .22lr rifle (an old Winchester 190) for the entire AWB. I'm much better equipped and more likely to protest this time if Feinstein does as she has promised.
 
Started shooting after 2004. Grew up in suburban northern Va where guns were not commonly talked about or owned as far as I knew. I remember vaguely when the Clinton ban went into effect because I remember my Mom saying something like "nobody needs things like that to hunt deer". Of course, I was 13 at the time...

Now that I know better, I am saddened by how much we have already given up with the NFA and GCA. Too many ridiculous laws, time for some compromise on the other side of the table instead of gun owners compromising ourselves into a corner and eventually off a cliff...
 
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