ah, yes, let the drinking commence.
so, before i get too sloppy drunk to type, let me type.
The Assault Weapon Ban.
As a gun advocate, I cannot stand beside anything I believe will truly ban weapons. Therefore, I do stand beside this, because this ban is a junkyard dog without teeth; it's purely cosmetic and totally useless.
Pundits would have you believe that this ban made such weapons as AK-47s, AR-15s (these are literally civilian M16s), SKS' (longer, more accurate AK-47s), Uzis, and other assault rifles, illegal. This is far from true. In fact, in 2001 I purchased both an SKS (something I'd wanted from childhood) and an AK-47 (which was promptly stolen - but we won't get into that). The SKS came with the original bayonet attached. The AK-47 came with an aftermarket muzzle flash suppresor. Keep this in mind, it'll make sense in a second.
Now, the Assault Weapon Ban literally did not ban assault weapons - it banned weapons from being made (operative word here is "made") with muzzle flash suppresors and bayonets attached. Therefore, a manufacturer could not make a weapon post September 1994 (not sure of the month, but it was late 94) that had a bayonet or a muzzle flash suppresor on it. That's it. They could still make any kind of assault weapon they wanted (there were restrictions in number of cartridges as weapon could hold, but were inapplicable now-a-days because no one wants to buy a rifle that can hold 100 rounds of ammo - it would weigh far too much to be practical even in drive by shootings
).
As such, any rifle made prior to Sept. 94 could have anything on it (as both my AK and SKS were made prior to 94, they were legal). Also, manufacturers of aftermarket muzzle flash suppresors and bayonets kicked production into high gear prior to the enactment of the ban so that they had a surplus of these items prior to the ban being enacted. This enabled people to purchase a brand-new M16 and just add the "illegal" item at home and, suddenly, the rifle was legal.
This is why the ban was not reinstated - it was useless legislation.
Also, I know some people are fervently against assault rifles because they can shoot six hundred bullets a minute, or more in some cases. While this is technically true, it is practically false. No weapon can fire more bullets in a minute then how many times you can pull the trigger in a minute. This is the same with handguns. Now if some of these weapons were full auto (and a lot of older rifles like AK-47s were once full auto, but were converted prior to being shipped to the US) they were capable of shooting a hundred bullets in less then ten seconds. But not anymore, and it's actually very hard to make an AK-47 full auto once it's been converted to single shot. Whereas it's very easy to convert an SKS to full auto because it was never full auto.
Well, the alcohol's doing it's damage. Should I feel bad that I'm off the wagon (or is it on the wagon). Fuck it, when you feel this good, who cares. Tomorrow, however, I will be very ill. Oh well.
Goodnight my beloved little fuckers 
so, before i get too sloppy drunk to type, let me type.
The Assault Weapon Ban.
As a gun advocate, I cannot stand beside anything I believe will truly ban weapons. Therefore, I do stand beside this, because this ban is a junkyard dog without teeth; it's purely cosmetic and totally useless.
Pundits would have you believe that this ban made such weapons as AK-47s, AR-15s (these are literally civilian M16s), SKS' (longer, more accurate AK-47s), Uzis, and other assault rifles, illegal. This is far from true. In fact, in 2001 I purchased both an SKS (something I'd wanted from childhood) and an AK-47 (which was promptly stolen - but we won't get into that). The SKS came with the original bayonet attached. The AK-47 came with an aftermarket muzzle flash suppresor. Keep this in mind, it'll make sense in a second.
Now, the Assault Weapon Ban literally did not ban assault weapons - it banned weapons from being made (operative word here is "made") with muzzle flash suppresors and bayonets attached. Therefore, a manufacturer could not make a weapon post September 1994 (not sure of the month, but it was late 94) that had a bayonet or a muzzle flash suppresor on it. That's it. They could still make any kind of assault weapon they wanted (there were restrictions in number of cartridges as weapon could hold, but were inapplicable now-a-days because no one wants to buy a rifle that can hold 100 rounds of ammo - it would weigh far too much to be practical even in drive by shootings
).
As such, any rifle made prior to Sept. 94 could have anything on it (as both my AK and SKS were made prior to 94, they were legal). Also, manufacturers of aftermarket muzzle flash suppresors and bayonets kicked production into high gear prior to the enactment of the ban so that they had a surplus of these items prior to the ban being enacted. This enabled people to purchase a brand-new M16 and just add the "illegal" item at home and, suddenly, the rifle was legal.
This is why the ban was not reinstated - it was useless legislation.
Also, I know some people are fervently against assault rifles because they can shoot six hundred bullets a minute, or more in some cases. While this is technically true, it is practically false. No weapon can fire more bullets in a minute then how many times you can pull the trigger in a minute. This is the same with handguns. Now if some of these weapons were full auto (and a lot of older rifles like AK-47s were once full auto, but were converted prior to being shipped to the US) they were capable of shooting a hundred bullets in less then ten seconds. But not anymore, and it's actually very hard to make an AK-47 full auto once it's been converted to single shot. Whereas it's very easy to convert an SKS to full auto because it was never full auto.
Well, the alcohol's doing it's damage. Should I feel bad that I'm off the wagon (or is it on the wagon). Fuck it, when you feel this good, who cares. Tomorrow, however, I will be very ill. Oh well.
Goodnight my beloved little fuckers
Yes, people are actually stupid enough to believe that you weren't able to buy these weapons legally before the ban was lifted.