Do you have a reference to the AWB law or ATF ruling that I can look up? I'm not trying to be a smart alek, I just want to be 100% sure, not rely on anyones best judgement or opinion before doing anything. So far nobody has given me a definitve "this is exactly where it says........." answer.
There is a link to the ban itself (or at least the Public Law)
here
I've actually been trying to get to the bottom of this and its quite confusing.
As far as the AWB law goes - forgt it exists. Once the 13th arrives, its over with and has no bearing on anything.
The provisions concerning imported parts are a little more confusing. Bush 1s original executive order does not seem to be in effect anymore. That is - I can't find a copy of it anywhere (either in the Code of Federal Regulations (online or on Lexis and Westlaw - sadly, my office doesn't keep hard copies of the entire CFR anymore, only the individual titles we actually do work from) or the National Archives list of Executive Orders). From what I can gather, the executive order was subsequently adopted by congress in a statute sometime in 1992 (still tracking that down) and then a regultion was adopted under that statute. However, the interplay of all these is confusing.
As I stated before, the Executive order has no bearing on private citizens. It is simply an order to the executive agencies. Think of it as a memo from your boss telling you to do something with your boss being the president and you being the releveant Federal Agency or Federal Employee). From hat I gather (and without being able to actually read the language of the executive order - if someone has a copy, please post it) Bush's order prohibited the granting of import licenses to firearms who fit the ten parts test. Once those guns made it into the U.S. of course, under the order the owner is free to do what they want. I don't know what changes the 1992 statute made to them (if it made them at all).
I'm going to try to research this some more this weekend, but the time to do it is limited.
Can anyone shed any more light on what exactly happened and what the effective dates where?
To make things all the more confusing, the AWB (eer, the underlying Crime Bill) repealed many parts of the exisitng U.S. Code for bookkeeping reasons. It appears to me, though I am not certain, that some of the 1992 statute may have been repealed and replaced by the AWB. If thats the case those provisions are gone for good too. It would take another act of Congress to re-enact them - though again, I have not the time to check all this out.
As with all things legal, if you want this information to be accurate, your best advice is to hire a lawyer to do the research for you. For many people, this might actually be an issue, though I imagine for most on this board, its not and won't justify the costs.
