Assault weapons ban may soon end.

[Bowline]

America's most intense gun-control debate in a decade is being played out against the backdrop of presidential politics this summer with the approaching expiration of a 10-year-old ban on assault weapons.

The ban will expire Sept. 13 unless extended by Congress, and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, has indicated that he's unlikely to bring it to a vote. President Bush has endorsed an extension of the ban, but he is not actively pushing Congress to take action.

<snip>
"It's an uphill battle," Sarah Brady, one of the nation's leading gun-control advocates, said in a telephone interview last week. "Our streets are going to be filled with AK-47s and Uzis" unless Congress extends the ban, she said.

<snip>
"I don't think there is an appetite in Congress to extend this ban and wage a battle on the gun issue in a presidential election year," said Andrew Arulanandam, director of public affairs for the NRA. "The ban has proven to be bad policy and bad politics."

Complete article.

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"Our streets are going to be filled with AK-47s and Uzis"

Hasn't this tired old saw died yet? How much longer will their side continue to spin this outright lie? Why does the media refuse to expose this patent fallacy for what it is?

[Crachet2004]

1. When the sun goes down on the AWB, it will not be missed.

We have a lot of larger issues and priorities than this...and we must remain focused to have any chance of winning in November.

If we can get away from the gun control issue, we will gain at least 5 votes for every one we lose.

And the ones we lose will mostly be in blue states with large urban populations, where we don't need them anyhow, while the ones we gain will mostly come from more rural states, where we need all the help we can get.

I think part of what is killing the AWB, is that there is a lie at its core...and a lot of people know it.

If I build a toy squirt gun that looks like an Uzi, it is still not an Uzi...and semi-autos of any kind are NOT assault weapons. The AK on the AWB list is not the same AK the Russians use, as theirs is fully auto, while the one imported and banned in THIS country, has been modified to a mere semi-auto state.

I heard only one speaker at our recent convention even allude to the ban, and that was Clinton-and he got away from it in a hurry.

I think the AWB is soon to be dead, never to raise its ugly head again, and good riddance!

[billbuckhead]

2. Proof that the RepuKKKes and the NRA are soft on terrorism

Tim McVeigh himself said he would rather have used a sniper rifle instead of a bomb.

[Bowline]

4. That's proof of nothing.

McVeigh represented neither the Republican party nor the NRA. He was a lunatic with a chip on his shoulder who used a truck bomb to kill a lot of innocent people.

Let's put the blame where it belongs, on Tim McVeigh.

[enfield collector]

5. "sniper" rifles aren't covered under the worthless AWB. n/t

[Bowline]

6. Excellent point. n/t

[slackmaster]

9. Neither are bombs - n/t

:D

[Wcross]

7. So what does a hunting..err.. "sniper rifle" have to do......

With the so called "assault weapons ban"? So Timmy went to a few gun shows? This means the assault weapons ban is good? I don't follow the logic. On 9/11 terrorists hijacked airplanes and crashed them into the twin towers and the pentagon so we must not let the "AWB" sunset?
It is an ineffective law that had no effect on gun crime, just appearance. Why the focus on weapons that are used in less than 3% of gun homicides? Why not go after the type used in over 80% of the homicides?

[Bowline]

8. "Why the focus on weapons that are used in less than 3% of gun homicides?"

It's been said before but it bears repeating: Gun control has nothing to do with guns and everything to do with control.

The ban was a feeler, a test run to see how Americans reacted to gun control. Had the ban been renewed the gun grabbers would have, and still might, target all semi-auto weapons, followed by all handguns, and then, finally, all guns. The goal of the die-hard, core gun control crowd is total disarmament of the general public. An unarmed public is an easily malleable public. Organizations like the MMM and the like are merely a friendly, easily digestible public facade intended to give gun control a grass-roots, down-home, "for the children" spin. It's fairly effective at bringing in the vote from uninformed (some might say intentionally misinformed) voters willing to swallow whatever lie the government sends their way. Kind of like the "official" 9/11 story.

Intelligent, informed people are their worst nightmare. They see through the smoke and mirrors and realize the true threat comes from the likes of Ashcroft, the BATF, and the so called Patriot Act.

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

3. I'm ready for it to go away

forever. This even as I am applying for a job in law enforcement. It won't arm the criminals, all it will really mean is normal people get to have flash hider, bayonet lugs and don't have to pay huge prices to get normal capacity magazines.

[thomas82]

10. The AWB will die soon

There are more AK47 type rifles (SAR-1,WASR10) Uzi's, and AR15s on the market now than before the ban. The only difference the AWB expiring will make is now they can have folding stocks, Bayonet lugs, flash hiders and regular capacity magazines. Like prohibition this unconstitutional law will die forever hopefully.
Tom