Easy Question About 1994 A.W.B.

[Uncle Richard]

This is a more general question about the legislature process.

When the 1994 Assault Weapon Ban expired, what legislative process would it take to reenact it?

Can the President just reinstate it? Or would it need a majority vote in the House and Senate?

Would the process be different if restating it before it expired?

 

[Telekinesis]

A new law would have to be passed, with both houses of congress passing the bill and the president signing it.

The only reason the 1994 AWB expired was because they included a section in the law that basically said "this law will no longer have effect after a certain amount of time". There is no way for the president to just reinstate the 1994 AWB.

 

[AlexanderA]

That's right, a new law would have to be passed. In the current political climate, there's not much chance of that.

I have to say, also, that such a new law would probably not resemble the 1994 AWB. The gun-controllers are well aware that the AWB was ineffective (from their point of view) because it grandfathered existing weapons and magazines. Anything new that they propose will undoubtedly not have a grandfather clause or sunset provision (that is, whatever they ban will be made contraband immediately), and it will probably focus on magazine capacity rather than on cosmetic "evil" features.

In general, though, it would be a mistake to get too worried about this. The day of draconian gun control has passed. All the momentum is on our side.

 

[1911 guy]

I'm no legal expert, but I also believe the previous posters to be correct. When the "94 AWB expired, it became completely null and void, as if it never existed. It cannot be, if we are correct in our collective reasoning, simply reinstated. It would have to be rewritten and start from step one to become law again.

I would echo your post, AlexanderA, with one exception. We seem to have momentum on our side, but we now have a precedent of "passing it so we can see what's in it". This would allow for a lot of "Gee, I didn't really mean to vote that way" apologetics to save face after the damage has been done. Do I think we're facing anything soon? No. But the world has become a strange place.

Oh, IBTL, by the way. Any talk of hypothetical future bans is apparently seen as tinfoil hattery and frowned upon.

 

[SMMAssociates]

Seems to me that a big question is "how do you kill an executive order". Zero has been doing all kinds of (evil) stuff that way, and an AWB could, I think, be done that way....

Seems like Congress could countermand it, or de-fund the enforcement, but I'm not sure how.

Hopefully, we'll flush this guy next month, but the droppings may linger (or increase) until the end of January....

Regards,

 

[Uncle Richard]

I didn't know the "expiration" of the AWB was wrote into the legislation. I guess this is the same for all proposed legislation.....the expiration is based upon the provisions.


...thanks guys. I don't want to start some rabbit trail of "what ifs" or "new bun bans." Was interested in legislative process.

thanks agian.

 

[1911 guy]

The "Sunset Provision", or expiration, was written into the AWB itself. Kind of a "drop dead date" for the law. All legislation, however, is not written this way. In fact most is written to be permenant. Quite frankly, we dodged the bullet with the sunset provision. Had a few levelheaded people in Washington not insisted on it (seeing they could not stop the ban outright) we'd still be dealing with it.

So yeah, expiration is based on provision, but most legislation, regardless of what subject matter it addresses, has no provision for expiration at all.

I remember back when I ordered a new AR upper as soon as the AWB expired. Putting a bayonet lug and flash suppressor on was my little act of rebellion. And satisfied my gun jones for a while.

 

[Uncle Richard]

i apprecaite the response........whoever fought to get the timeline provision into the AWB was a smart individual.

 

[mg.mikael]

Oh, IBTL, by the way. Any talk of hypothetical future bans is apparently seen as tinfoil hattery and frowned upon.

No not really, most folks just worry about an AWB while not seeing the bigger picture. That bigger picture is if President Obama gets re-elected odds are in his favor that one or two Supreme Court judges will retire. What does that mean? That means the Supreme Court becomes a left-wing majority, where pro-gun laws and decisions become a thing of the past. If you ask me this is alot more terrifying then any AWB rumors coming from Obama.

 

[Frank Ettin]

Getting off topic and the OP's question has been answered.

Closed.