Gun Control & RKBA
In reply to the discussion: Here is the problem [View all]jimmy the one
(2,708 posts)ezra: The polls show much, much weaker support for an AWB and magazine restrictions now than in 1994. Were you following the issue then?
Subjective, polls today are running about 55 - 60% for an assault rifle ban which is still majority support. Are you advocating ruling from behind?
2. The 1994 law that cost the trifecta didn't even ban any guns, didn't affect the capacity of available rifle magazines (because it allowed unlimited importation of surplus STANAG and Warsaw Pact mags),
Huh? run that underlined stuff by me again pls, slower.
The 1994 law .. didn't prevent you from legally buying as many 15/20/30/whatever-round magazines as you wanted for your pistol or rifle.
You must not've seen the OP jpak posted, if it didn't prevent, it inhibited, which is also 'good': During the 10-year federal ban on assault weapons, the percentage of firearms equipped with high-capacity magazines seized by police agencies in Virginia dropped, only to rise sharply once the restrictions were lifted in 2004, analysis Washington Post.
In Virginia,.. the rate at which police recovered firearms with high-capacity magazines mostly handguns and to a smaller extent rifles began to drop around 1998, four years into the ban. It hit a low of 9% of the total number of guns recovered the year the ban expired, 2004.
The next year {2005, the first full year stats since awb exp'd sep04}, the rate began to climb and continued to rise in subsequent years, reaching 20% in 2010, In the period The Post studied, police in Virginia recovered more than 100,000 firearms, more than 14,000 of which had high-capacity magazines.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/data-point-to-drop-in-high-capacity-magazines-during-federal-gun-ban/2013/01/10/d56d3bb6-4b91-11e2-a6a6-aabac85e8036_story.html
ezra: And oh yeah, it banned marketing of new civilian guns under any of 19 banned names. -- out of near 800 total rifles, or left about 97% of total rifles unaffected.
3. AR's and over-10-round magazines are FAR more popular now than in 1994.
True; ordinary civilians wanting to pretend they're as well armed as soldiers fighting wars & stuff, while never having to actually serve in a war, or join the army navy or marines, or join a militia, or, real combat type stuff. They just want to pretend they're a really 'well armed militia', ready for anything.
Today, using the working definitions being discussed, a ban on "assault weapons" and over-10-round magazines would be affecting 30+ million guns and 200+ million magazines owned by 40-50 million citizens of voting age.
30 million firearms would be high balling the estimate on assault rifles (dunno about pistols if it applies), low ball estimates are about 10million, with 2 or 3 million ar15s;
50 million gun owners is again highballing & likely absurd. Personal gun ownership has been declining past decade & is now about 30% of americans own a gun, down from 35%. What is occurring is existing gun owners are buying more & more of the yearly brand new guns, to feed their addiction or fetish about guns.
All those 60 million new guns the past 8 years or so have been largely going to existing gun owners. So any guncontrol regs wouldn't affect 40 - 50 million 'citz.' who would likely moreso support the regs.