Assault weapons ban eagerly anticipated

Post #174,014

9/13/04 7:09:17 PM

8/21/07 6:30:46 AM

[link|http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/9648611.htm?1c|http://www.miami.com...on/9648611.htm?1c]

WASHINGTON - As the clock runs down on the decade-old ban on selling and buying assault weapons, phones have begun ringing off the hook at ArmaLite. Customers want to know when the newly outfitted AR-15 rifle will be ready.

''People are excited. They've been waiting for this for a long time, and we've been preparing,'' said Jodi DePorter, a spokeswoman for the Geneseo, Ill.-based gun maker.

Unless Republican congressional leaders have a sudden change of heart, the assault weapons ban -- a centerpiece of the 1994 Crime Bill -- will expire tonight at midnight.

...

Law enforcement -- which credits the ban with helping drive down the crime rate to record-low levels in the last decade -- says they will once again be outgunned by criminals.

Several dozen police chiefs from around the country converged on Washington recently to lobby members of Congress to reauthorize the ban. They also sought a meeting with President Bush, who has said he would sign a bill if it landed on his desk, but were rebuffed, said Joe Polisar, the president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

Police and other supporters of the ban accused Bush of not doing anything to temper Republican opposition in the House of Representatives.

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We're safer now though, right? RIGHT? Hello? Is this thing on? And God forbid our elected representatives bother to REPRESENT US. A little data below:
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Editorial boards of 90 newspapers in every region of the country have called on Congress to renew the ban, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Detroit Free Press, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, The Miami Herald, The Orlando Sentinel, The Chicago Tribune, The Salt Lake Tribune, The Tennessean, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The Dallas Morning News, The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC), and The Lexington Herald-Leader.

A review of nine nationwide polls between May 1995 and November 2003 found that Americans overwhelmingly support the Assault Weapons Ban. Highlights of those polls include:

The New York Times/Wall Street Journal (November 2003): 78% support continuing ban on assault weapons
Americans for Gun Safety/Penn, Schoen, and Berland Associates (October 2003): 77% support renewing Assault Weapons Ban
Consumer Federation of America/Opinion Research Corporation International (October 2003): 76% support renewing Assault Weapons Ban
Marttila Communications Group/Brady Campaign Survey (July 2003): 69% believe Assault Weapons Ban should be renewed or strengthened
CBS News/New York Times (May 2000): 67% favor ban on assault weapons
ABC News/Washington Post (May 200): 71% favor ban on assault weapons
ABC News/Washington Post (August-September 1999): 77% support ban on assault weapons
Newsweek Princeton Survey Research Associates (August 1999): 68% support ban on semi-automatic assault weapons

In addition, the ban was supported by former President Ronald Reagan and also by Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton

[link|http://www.bradycampaign.org/press/release.php?release=585|http://www.bradycamp...e.php?release=585]

That was lovely cheese.

--Wallace, The Wrong Trousers

Edited by tuberculosis Sept. 13, 2004, 07:12:04 PM EDT

Edited by tuberculosis Aug. 21, 2007, 06:30:46 AM EDT

Expand All History

Post #174,018

by boxley

9/13/04 8:43:34 PM

bogus ban, glad its gone

ban was against military looking weapons not military weapons already banned. A ruger 223 varmit rifle is as deadly as a singleshot bushmaster or mac10/11. AK47 single fire SKS were not even banned. An automatic shotgun at close quarties is horrific compared to a singleshot uzi or galil. If so many people were against it why does almost everyone at work talking about stocking up on 30 round mags before the gummint bans them again?
Will be tootleing down to the next gun show to see what came out of the closets.
thanx.
bill

These miserable swine, having nothing but illusions to live on, marshmallows for the soul in place of good meat, will now stoop to any disgusting level to prevent even those miserable morsels from vanishing into thin air. The country is being destroyed by these stupid, vicious right-wing fanatics, the spiritual brothers of the brownshirts and redstars, collectivists and authoritarians all, who would not know freedom if it bit them on the ass, who spend all their time trying to stamp, bludgeon, and eviscerate the very idea of the individual's right to his own private world. DRL
questions, help? [link|mailto:pappas@catholic.org|email pappas at catholic.org]

Post #174,019

by Another Scott

9/13/04 8:54:36 PM

It was bogus.

A report I heard on the radio claimed that the US crime rate dropped over the last 10 years because of the ban. Sheesh. (I think it was actually due to changes in demographics.)

Take the [link|http://www.ont.com/users/kolya/|Banned or Legal?] quiz.

Cheers,
Scott.

Post #174,029

by Meerkat

9/13/04 9:51:45 PM

Yeah, everyone knows reducing guns always *increases* crime.

And cigarettes are good for you, and doughnuts are a health food.

I don't understand why people would actually want Assault weapons. But then again, I don't really want to know.

Two out of three people wonder where the other one is.

Post #174,033

by static

9/13/04 9:55:55 PM

I'm happy for my assault weapons to stay in the PC games.

Best place for them.

Wade.

Is it enough to love
Is it enough to breathe
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed

Is it enough to die
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary
Please

-- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne.

Post #174,037

by Another Scott

9/13/04 10:01:59 PM

Now, now.

Let's not fly off the handle. :-)

If someone wanted a gun to commit a crime in the US, they could still get it - very easily - during this ban. As the little quiz indicated, some much more lethal weapons continued to be legal while ones that looked similar were banned.

I suspect the ban (or something similar) will be reinstated within a year.

Cheers,
Scott.

Post #174,091

by deSitter

9/14/04 1:28:18 AM

Like other things

Precision manufactured power. Sort of like a fountain pen or a good camera or telescope.

Nutbags will find a way to be nutty. Gun bans have no effect at all. It's propaganda.

-drl

Post #174,144

by bepatient

9/14/04 9:17:27 AM

Make no doubt, though.

...that we will hear on every news program about every shooting involving every one of these weapons.

Also keep in mind that they will conveniently NOT tell you whether the weapon was acquired through legal means.

Criminals can always get these weapons. In fact, most criminals probably don't want these weapons cause the stuff they get is >better< .

If you push something hard enough, it will fall over. _{Fudd's First Law of Opposition}

[link|mailto:bepatient@aol.com|BePatient]

Post #174,161

by jake123

9/14/04 10:23:28 AM

And yet

countries that are sane about public distribution of weapons somehow see a lot fewer people die from them.

Go figger.

--\n-------------------------------------------------------------------\n* Jack Troughton                            jake at consultron.ca *\n* [link|http://consultron.ca|http://consultron.ca]                   [link|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca] *\n* Kingston Ontario Canada               [link|news://news.consultron.ca|news://news.consultron.ca] *\n-------------------------------------------------------------------

Post #174,036

by Andrew Grygus

9/13/04 10:01:48 PM

Irrelevant here

California's ban is much more strict, covers far more weapons, and will still be in effect.

[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]

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