What is some of the major gun control legislation of the past 30 years? The only one I know of is the Brady bill.
BTW, this is not for any board related discussions. I’m just curious.
A suburb of Chicago banned handguns. San Francisco banned handguns. California banned SBRs (Scary Black Rifles) at least three times that I can think of. There was the Assault Weapons Ban that Clinton signed in 1994.
The Assault Weapons Ban Johnny L.A. mentioned was whittled down to being merely a nuisance by the time it was passed. The most significant part, the ban on large capacity magazine for guns, had a grandfather clause for mags made before the ban. Naturally, the magmakers went into overdrive until the ban. I think there were still “pre-ban mags” being sold when the law finally expired.
Previous to JFK’s assassination with a mail-order rifle, there weren’t many restrictions. You couldn’t buy machine guns (without special licenses) or sawed off shotguns. Silencers were illegal. No guns had to be registered, except for the machine guns, and you could buy guns by mail.
I realize that goes back further than your 30-year question, but I wanted to make clear when the tide turned.
http://www.rense.com/general9/gunlaw.htm
Kennesaw, GA, requires you to own a gun.
The Gun Control Act of 1968 was the most important law since the National Firearms Act of 1934.
In case it’s not clear from the posts above, Clinton’s ban on Assault Weapons and High Capacity Magazines only lasted 10 years. It’s been off the books for over a year now. Some places like California have kept their own similar laws intact, though. The bill was completely pointless to begin with and did nothing to prevent gun violence or even gun crimes. The ban was tacked onto a huge bill that basically added protection and funding for victims of Domestic Violence and a load of other community policing stuff and other junk that I’m couldn’t tell you without rereading the whole thing again. (Which I dont want to. But you can read it by Googling “Crime Control and Reduction Act of 1994”) I think that’s what it was called. Or at least something similar.
But anyway, a lot of people think it was just a ban on certain guns and things. But that was just a small piece (like two paragraphs) of a multipage bill. I think the whole thing was pretty scandelous and fucked up, but that’s congress…
I am not sure what the rest of the laws are called but here’s a quick overview:
In 1986, it became illegal for private citizens and corporations to buy domestically produced machine guns. Foreign imports were already barred from possession and purchase back around 1969. Previous weapons already in the registry were grandfathered in, though.
Around this time, there were manufacturers producing Sears like crazy and rushing to get them registered before the ban took effect. A sear is just a small metal part that makes a specific weapon full-auto. So a manufacturer can stamp them out by the hundreds, and I think some did just that. So there are tons and tons of registered Sears in circulation. Not to mention the machineguns that already existed.
As you may imagine, this ban didn’t really do much to prevent citizens from owning machineguns. But it DID make machineguns more expensive for citizens. And since the stock of transferable machineguns CANNOT be replenished, the weapons get more expensive as time goes on. In 50 years, they might be VERY expensive. Right now, the ban has a decent M16 variant (actually worth about 800-900 dollars) costing around 5,000 dollars.
Also, around this time (maybe the same bill) dealers were no longer allowed to keep their imported machineguns after giving up their license. But all the imports before this time are grandfathered in. These samples are called “Presamples”. Presamples are only transferable to a dealer with a Class III, but that dealer can keep the weapon and transfer it to himself after he gets rid of his license and closes his business. Presamples will cost the dealer a little bit more than a post sample, and they cost a little bit more rare, for obvious reasons.
(I admit, my knowledge on presamples is a little hazy)
Next, - I believe it was in 1989 - certain types of semiauto rifles were banned from importation for sale to civilians. This mainly effected the cosmetics of the rifle and is why you see things like assault rifles with thumbhole stocks.
So what people were doing to legally add a pistol grip to their semiauto AK47 with the thumbhole stock, was throw enough DOMESTIC parts into it so that it would be technically considered a “domestic” semiauto, and then they could put a pistol grip on it - among other things…
Also, it’s possible that the Presample thing was an affect of THIS bill, and not the 1986 one.
The Clinton ban in 1994 only effected the cosmetics of certain semiauto assault weapons. By definition in the bill, an “assault weapon” is a SEMIAUTO rifle. So, contrary to many peoples’ beliefs, this ban had nothing to do with machineguns. It also banned magazines that held more than 10 rounds. But now that ban is gone. So everything is good again…
Also somewhere along the line in the late 80s or the 90s, the ATF (either through policy or through a new BILL - not sure) started requiring Letters of Intent signed by a chief law enforcement official for even a dealer to purchase or transfer a machinegun.
You mentioned the Brady Bill. The Brady Bill caused all states to have a waiting period (between 3-5 days depending on the state), and required instance criminal background checks before selling the firearms.
Also in the 90s, legislation was passed to prevent what people called the “Gun Show Loophole”. But there was no freaking loophole. Private citizens do not need a license to sell a pistol to another person. And businesses who have a license already had to sell their weapons with the proper paperwork and background checks anyway. So all this law did was prevent private citizens from getting a good deal from another citizen at a gun show. Citizens can still sell their weapons through newspaper adds or whatever means they wish. It’s pretty simple and no background check or waiting period is required for that. But that was the bulk of the Brady Bill. Instant background check and a waiting period.
I hope some of this was at least slightly helpful…