Reply #134: SKS's weren't affected, no.

[benEzra]

It banned the sk rifle that was used in the mall, if I recall correctly..nt

SKS's weren't affected, no. My wife owns one, a 1952 Tula, that she bought in 1995 or 1996 for $99:



Like all imported rifles, SKS's are subject to the Bush the Elder import regulations (18 USC 922r et seq), which make it a felony to make certain changes if you don't keep track of the arcane Parts Count Rule, but their status wasn't affected by the 1994 ban. If you abide by the parts count rule, you can swap the fixed magazine for a detachable magazine, swap the rifle into a more modern looking stock, etc. My wife's is original except for the scope, though.

FWIW, I believe that the SKS is the most popular centerfire rifle in U.S. homes nationwide, with something like seven million sold over the last two decades.

Early reports did say it was an SKS, but it does now appear that the rifle was used in the mall shooting was a GP-WASR carbine imported by Century, which is a non-automatic civilian AK made in Romania. Like all civilian AK's, WASR's were not banned by the 1994 "AWB", and were imported and sold during the ban on the same basis as any other imported civilian rifle.

I own a Century-imported Romanian AK, a 2002 model; circled areas show how my ban-era rifle differs from a pre-'94 or post-'04 model:



That's also a ban-era magazine, FWIW. A ban-era WASR would have had the same features in the circled areas. The gas block on a post-'04 rifle would stick out a little more on the bottom, and the muzzle would most likely be slanted instead of vertical.