Yeah yeah I know I know, no one here cares about the gun control issue besides me, but since I am such a big Bush hater I have to post this thread. Here we go again. Our great President did it again what he is famous for. I mean broke another promise that he made to the people. He promised to keep the ban on assault weapons, but he failed to keep it. As of today 10 years of ban on assault weapons has expired, and our beloved President chose to be with his gun lobby buddies instead of the security of American Public. Republican leaders in Congress said last week they have no plans to renew the 1994 ban on 19 types of military-style assault weapons, even as some law enforcement officials encouraged them to keep the prohibition alive. Bush has said he would sign a renewal, but he didn’t make any effort to press Congress to approve one. Another sad day….
One aspect of the assault weapons ban troubles pro-gun and gun-control advocates alike: The law, they say, defines prohibited weapons based on superficial, cosmetic characteristics such as collapsible stocks - not on the actual capabilities of the weapons.
That has led to one weapon being considered legal while another, with the same power and accuracy, falls into the illegal category because it has a feature such as a bayonet mount or pistol grip.
“Gun owners were like, That's ridiculous,'" said Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association. "It's like taking a parking lot that's full of cars, all with the same engine under the hood, and saying, We’re going to ban the cars that have more than one hood ornament on them.’ I mean, the engines are all the same.”
LaPierre added: “It’s done nothing to reduce crime. It was all bogus cosmetics to begin with.”
**Some gun-control advocates agree with the NRA that the law has been essentially feckless, and they join the pro-gun-rights group in opposing extension of the ban, although for different reasons. **
“Our position on the current law is that it has been ineffective because the industry immediately found ways around the ban,” said Kristin Rand, legislative director for the Violence Policy Center, a Washington-based gun-control advocacy group.
“We don’t support a simple renewal of the ban, because what has happened in the assault-weapon marketplace is that virtually every gun banned in the '94 law has come back in the market in so-called post-ban configuration,” she said.
Manufacturers removed the military-style features listed by the ban to make their weapons legal. Instead of a renewal, her group wants a major expansion of the law.
OK folks, take the quiz on the Assault weapon ban!
i think people should have arms if they are responsible enough for them. if some one can guarantee safety of the firearm, there is no need to deny them that right. i am for this ban being lifted, but people need to be protected from criminals by extending penalty for crimes committed using firearms.