General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Expired Assault Weapons Ban Would Have Covered Rifle Used In Colorado Shooting [View all]Atypical Liberal
(5,412 posts)The 1994 Assault Weapons Ban did not ban assault weapons.
All it did was require importers to add a few US-made parts to imported assault rifles, and they made it so that you could have any TWO of: detachable magazine, pistol grip, or bayonet lug. Since the bayonet lug was basically useless, most manufacturers omitted them, and importers ground them off.
I bought a civilian AK-47 during (and directly because of) the Assault Weapons Ban. It is a Romanian SAR-1. It is identical to civilian AK-47s sold prior to the ban, except the bayonet lug was ground off.
The AWB did ban the sale of new high capacity magazines, but grandfathered in existing ones, and there was such a massive supply of them that there was never any trouble buying them, though prices did go up for them. I bought 6 of them as a result of the ban.