Lifting decade-long ban on assault rifles sparks controversy

By Camie Young
camie.young@gwinnettdailypost.com

LAWRENCEVILLE — The day a decade-old ban on semiautomatic assault weapons expired, Pete Rockett bought a new gun.
“I actually have a post-ban legal one in my safe at home,” Rockett said, pointing to his new Bushmaster XM-15. “It just irritated me that for cosmetic changes (they would ban it). It doesn’t shoot a bit differently.”
At Bull’s Eye Indoor Range and Gun Shop in Lawrenceville, owner Randy Powell laid Rockett’s new gun next to a nearly identically designed gun, the Rock River Arms LAR-15, built to post-ban standards.

Ban explained

A law banning the manufacturing of assault weapons, which are semiautomatic rifles with a detachable magazine and at least two other military-style additional features, expires Monday. There are five military features as listed below and shown on this Bushmaster XM-15.

- A flash suppressor at the end of the barrel to limit the flash and conceal the shooter

-Grenade launcher can attach to the flash suppressor. External grenade launchers remain illegal (not shown on this weapon).

-A bayonet lug for attaching a large knife.

-Detachable magazines with more than 10 rounds. The law limited magazines to 10 rounds.

-A Retractable stock shortens the length of the rifle.

Source: The Associated Press

“Yesterday, one was legal and one was illegal,” he said.
While some say the assault weapon ban helped reduce the risk of violent crime, others say it was an arbitrary infringement on the right to bear arms.
The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 made illegal certain guns and accessories.
“The politicians have no knowledge. It’s just idiotic,” Powell said.
Rockett’s Bushmaster came with a bayonet lug, a collapsible stock and a flash suppressor, all of which were illegal under the ban.
“My hunting rifle is much more powerful than that,” Rockett said.
The 1994 law that banned semiautomatic assault weapons came just a year after the Brady Bill, which provided for a mandatory waiting period. It also banned ammunition clips of more than 10 rounds.
Even though the 1994 law expired Monday, automatic weapons remain illegal.
According to a Web site for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the 1994 law helped reduce violent crime.
“Gun traces are one of the best measures of gun usage in crime. In 1999, the National Institute of Justice reported that trace requests for assault weapons in the 1993-95 period declined 20 percent in the first calendar year after the ban took effect, dropping from 4,077 in 1994 to 3,268 in 1995. Over the same time period, gun murders declined only 10 percent and trace requests for all types of guns declined 11 percent, clearly showing a greater decrease in the number of assault weapons traced in crime,” the Web site reported.
District Attorney Danny Porter said he doesn’t know whether or not the ban has helped law enforcement.
“I’ve never seen any numbers. I don’t know whether it’s been effective,” Porter, a Republican, said.
While the federal government would charge anyone who is illegally producing the guns, Porter said he isn’t sure if any Gwinnett murders can be linked to banned weapons, especially since weapons produced before 1994 were grandfathered in.
Neither Sheriff Butch Conway nor Gwinnett County Police Chief Charlie Walters were available for comment Monday.
Powell said he saw a surge in sales right before the ban went into effect 10 years ago, and the expiration of the law will change business, too.
A pre-ban Bushmaster would have sold for $2,000 a week ago, but the gun cost Rockett $900 on Monday. A 100-round magazine cost $600 a week ago but now costs $200.
In business on the Lawrenceville Square since 1991, Powell said the ban didn’t do much to hurt his business.
“You just have to work within the law,” he said, pointing to the Bushmaster and the LAR-15. “You’re just selling those guns instead of those guns.”
Few expect the sunset of the assault weapons ban to mean the end of the gun control debate.
“It’s always going to be a continuing debate,” District Attorney Porter said. “From a law enforcement perspective, I think the officers are more interested in the people behind the gun than the kind of gun.”

Word on the street
Do you think the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban that expired Monday helped crime? Do you think the weapons ban should be resigned or left to expire?

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