Reply #102: No, that didn't do squat

[krispos42]

What defined an "assault weapon" (most emphatically not an "assault rifle"; that confusion of terms is what was exploited by the ban proponents) was combinations of cosmetic features of rifles, shotguns, and pistols.

The features "banned" were from a list that included protruding pistol grips, folding or collapsable buttstocks, bayonet-mounting lugs, and flash-supressors. Basically, any cosmetic features that are associated with military-style arms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Assault_Weapons_Ban#Definition_of_assault_weapon



You could still buy your civilian-legal semi-automatic-only AK-47, but now it had the bayonet-mounting-lug ground off. Whoopee.



What DID help during the Clinton years was the rise of states with "3-strikes-and-you're out" laws, the COPS program that put 50,000-plus federally-funded police officers on the streets, and the overall good economy. Also, right the beginning of Clinton's term the Columbian police ran down and killed the major Columbian drug kingpin, dealing a major blow to drug cartels that took a few years to sort out.

Now, under the Republicans the COPS program was defunded every year until it was gone in 2005, the economy is tanking, and the housing market is imploding.



And I do have the right to buy a semi-automatic rifle, thank you very much. I don't subscribe to the "you have to be part of the militia" argument, but even if I did, I'm still in the militia, because I am a male between the ages of 17 and 45.