# If it wasn't for the NRA? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 10, 2019, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-wasnt-for-the-nra/844645 "2019-12-10T13:31:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 43
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2019, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-wasnt-for-the-nra/844645/43 "2019-12-11T05:43:24Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > The 96 AWB would have been renewed. When Obama was elected, without the NRA stoking fears of confiscation, gun sales would have continued their downward trend. Owning small arsenals of AR-15s and carrying a concealed weapon at all possible times wouldn’t be seen as “patriotic” ways to stand up to the Democrats. The guy who came up with the “American flag but made out of 5.56 rounds” decal that I saw the other day wouldn’t have sold as many stickers. > > With gun sales down and owning AR-15s no longer seen as “one’s civic duty,” a few high profile mass shootings wouldn’t happen, including Sandy Hook. With the AWB still in place, Democrats wouldn’t be under so much pressure to “do something” about the problem of gun violence, which would go back to being a problem that only affected poor black and brown people. > > I think that’s about it in a nutshell. Nonsense. First of all, the “Assault Weap:rolleyes:n” ban was in 1994, not '96. And when it expired in 2004 there wasn’t much effortt to renew it. I thought Dianne Feinstein would put up a furious fight over it but she didn’t. The ban did practically nothing. There were enough pre-ban rifles and magazines on the market to last 100 years. The prices just went up. Post ban rifles just had flash suppressors and bayonet lugs removed. They still had pistol grips and accepted 30 round mags same as the pre-ban models. 10 round mags came with a plastic brace that clipped two magazines together making changing mags lightning fast. Adam Lanzas mother bought her rifle legally and went through all legal channels. Whether she bought a pre-ban or post ban model the fact is she was going to have one and her demented son was going to do what he did with it. What the AWB did do was make gun dealers such as myself an obscene amount of money. People were paying top dollar for junk I couldn’t previously have given away. Like Tec-22 Scorpions. And they were crap. But tell someone they won’t be able to get something anymore and they want it even more! Hell, I [wished](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=275673) they had renewed the ban just for profit reasons. As for the NRA, there are other pro-gun rights organizations that are far more no compromise, such as Gun Owners of America. Just look at how the NRA rolled over and played dead to the illegal method Trump got bump stocks banned. If gun owners and manufacturers bailed on the NRA and gave their money to GOA we’d be much better off. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-wasnt-for-the-nra/844645)._