Assault Weapon Ban

• Ineffectiveness
• Factors leading up to

Video Poll

I would like to conduct a video man-on-the-street type poll asking the question, "What is an assault weapon?" Ultimately, this is a big part of the problem. No one knows what an assault weapon is.

We should then pose our own definition of an assault weapon: any firearm that looks evil.

Cosmetic Definition

The proponents of the AWB attempted to create a new classification of firearm that hadn't previously existed: the assault weapon. The people pushing for the law could probably point out examples of assault weapons fairly consistently, but they weren't very good at defining their classification.

The result was a law that defined five attributes of firearms that were mostly cosmetic. That law forced firearm manufacturers to change their designs to come into compliance. This ended in disappointment for the ban proponents, because the altered firearms didn't look significantly different. Since the ban didn't prohibit any functional attributes, there was no measureable impact on crime.

State and Local Bans

Several states and municipalities adopted assault weapon bans of their own, many of which are broader in scope than the federal law. Though the federal ban has expired, the state and local bans have continued to remain in effect.