2nd Amendment
member
I had to sit and explain in about three emails last nite exactly what the AWB was and why its expiration didn't matter. I'm going to post a similar explanation of a couple websites of mine and I was thinking about sending it to several area papers to offset the twitching from places like the Bloominton PD. Below is the rough draft. Yes it's short and simplistic but that's the goal. Keep it as simple as possible. Sound byte material. Short enough to make a Letters to the Editor section. What I'd like is for you folks to pick it apart. I don't want to add a lot of detail, just make certain the basics are covered and nobody can rise up and shoot through some gaping hole I missed. And yeah, I utterly ignored a couple things...I don't *think* it matters...
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The AWB: What it really was
With all the misinformation being pumped out since the sunset of the Clinton "Assault Weapons Ban" I have decided to create a short piece on what the AWB really was. Hopefully it'll help correct the mistaken views of most non-gunnies. Hopefully it might also help you really upset any of the anti-rights faction you might encounter.
The "Assault Weapons Ban" is more correctly called the Ugly Gun Ban. The basis of the legislation was, literally, the physical appearance of various firearms. Did it look "scary"? What can be done about such ugly guns? How can we do something without totally sending the vocal elements of the "gun culture" over the edge? Those were among the questions asked. And in the end it came down to what they could destroy while not seeming to infringe on the "rights of hunters".
So the AWB became little more than a ban on cosmetic features, people. The AR15 had been in production by numerous manufacturers for years. On this rifle is a pistol grip, a bayonet lug and a flash suppressor. It can also accept standard capacity(20/30rnd) mags. Some also had collabsibe stocks. There were many other rifles that follow this basic pattern of accoutrements. Ugly black rifles. Now keep in mind here, these are all semi-auto firearms. One shot from each squeeze of the trigger. That's all.
The AWB did not stop production of these firearms. They have continued to be available, as fast as factories can produce them, throughout the ban. All the AWB did was force the removal of the bayo lug and the flash suppressor. It also prevented the installation of of folding or callapsible stocks on new rifles. That's IT! Anything already in existence was grandfathered and new rifles simply lacked a couple cosmetic features.
The only other thing the "ban" did was ban the sale of standard capacity(20/30 rnd or more) mags to the public. All mags already in existence remained legal and available.
With the sunset of the ban all that changes is rifles already in continuous production for decades get to wear flash suppressors and bayo lugs again and, if you want one, a folding stockl. That and new standard capacity mags can be sold to the public along with the old ones that have been available all along. That's IT! That is all that has changed. All the hoopla and hand-wringing and predictions of doom from the fringe elements in the VPC and Brady group are based on the returned availability of a bayo lug!
Do you, the average reader, expect a series of mass bayonettings? Do you actually believe the presence or lack of a bayo lug or a folding stock has made a difference in crime? Knowing these facts, on what do you think the anti-gun folks are basing their dire predictions? How much trust can you put in the maturity of any law enforcement officer who would sit there and tell you he expects to be in more danger now than he was Sunday? Nothing has changed. All that happened is that, for once, Washington DC didn't cater to a tiny number of vocal special interest groups and they don't like it.
That alone is reason enough to rejoice!
******************************************************
The AWB: What it really was
With all the misinformation being pumped out since the sunset of the Clinton "Assault Weapons Ban" I have decided to create a short piece on what the AWB really was. Hopefully it'll help correct the mistaken views of most non-gunnies. Hopefully it might also help you really upset any of the anti-rights faction you might encounter.
The "Assault Weapons Ban" is more correctly called the Ugly Gun Ban. The basis of the legislation was, literally, the physical appearance of various firearms. Did it look "scary"? What can be done about such ugly guns? How can we do something without totally sending the vocal elements of the "gun culture" over the edge? Those were among the questions asked. And in the end it came down to what they could destroy while not seeming to infringe on the "rights of hunters".
So the AWB became little more than a ban on cosmetic features, people. The AR15 had been in production by numerous manufacturers for years. On this rifle is a pistol grip, a bayonet lug and a flash suppressor. It can also accept standard capacity(20/30rnd) mags. Some also had collabsibe stocks. There were many other rifles that follow this basic pattern of accoutrements. Ugly black rifles. Now keep in mind here, these are all semi-auto firearms. One shot from each squeeze of the trigger. That's all.
The AWB did not stop production of these firearms. They have continued to be available, as fast as factories can produce them, throughout the ban. All the AWB did was force the removal of the bayo lug and the flash suppressor. It also prevented the installation of of folding or callapsible stocks on new rifles. That's IT! Anything already in existence was grandfathered and new rifles simply lacked a couple cosmetic features.
The only other thing the "ban" did was ban the sale of standard capacity(20/30 rnd or more) mags to the public. All mags already in existence remained legal and available.
With the sunset of the ban all that changes is rifles already in continuous production for decades get to wear flash suppressors and bayo lugs again and, if you want one, a folding stockl. That and new standard capacity mags can be sold to the public along with the old ones that have been available all along. That's IT! That is all that has changed. All the hoopla and hand-wringing and predictions of doom from the fringe elements in the VPC and Brady group are based on the returned availability of a bayo lug!
Do you, the average reader, expect a series of mass bayonettings? Do you actually believe the presence or lack of a bayo lug or a folding stock has made a difference in crime? Knowing these facts, on what do you think the anti-gun folks are basing their dire predictions? How much trust can you put in the maturity of any law enforcement officer who would sit there and tell you he expects to be in more danger now than he was Sunday? Nothing has changed. All that happened is that, for once, Washington DC didn't cater to a tiny number of vocal special interest groups and they don't like it.
That alone is reason enough to rejoice!
