General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: WaPo Article Contends "Zero" Correlation Between State Gun Laws and State Homicide Rates [View all]villager
(26,001 posts)And I will note it says each side tends to cherry pick results.
It also says this:
"That the law did not have much of an impact on overall gun crime came as little surprise, Koper said. For one, assault weapons were used in only 2 percent of gun crimes before the ban. And second, existing weapons were grandfathered, meaning there were an estimated 1.5 million pre-ban assault weapons and 25 million to 50 million large-capacity magazines still in the U.S.
So obviously, these grandfathering provisions had major implications for how the effects of the law would unfold over time, Koper said.
"The study found clear indications that the use of assault weapons in crime did decline after the ban went into effect and that assault weapons were becoming rarer as the years passed (this is the part of the study Feinstein seized on). But, he said, the reduction in the use of assault weapons was offset through at least the late 1990s by steady or rising use of other semi-automatics equipped with large-capacity magazines.
etc.
http://www.factcheck.org/2013/02/did-the-1994-assault-weapons-ban-work/