Reply #159: For the near time, an AWB won't make it out of committee. Here's why:

[SteveM]

(1) Perhaps 15,000,000 U.S. civilians own the class of semi-auto carbine (mistakenly called an "assault weapon"); a number which exceed the number of licensed hunters in this country;
(2) The semi-auto carbine is the fastest selling rifle in the U.S. (save for the ubiquitous .22);
(3) The semi-auto carbine is rapidly becoming modified (chambered for larger rounds) so it will become the new hunting rifle.

(1) and (2) above point to a very large (and growing) constituency of voters who are well-aware of the issues involving gun-control, particularly as they pertain to semi-auto carbines (the so-called "assault weapons"). (3) above is just the latest evolution of obsolete military weapons to hunting/sport purposes. Once the firearm is painting in camo, has its stamped metal edges smoothed out and maybe a leaping deer embossed on the side, it will become increasingly difficult to "scare" the public using the old "black gun" imagery the gun-controllers have traded on for so long. It is ironic that gun-controllers/banners have intentionally confused the public by conflating full-auto assault rifles with semi-auto "assault-weapons" in order to make bans more palatable. Now, they must suffer the confusion of a "military-style" gun with a hunting rifle, the latter a firearm they claim not to want to ban.

As a certain reverend has said, the "chickens have come home to roost."