I’m an FFL holder. I made a shit load of money because of the “assault weap:rolleyes:ns” ban. You idiots that wanted the ban, you do realize that more “assault weapons” were actually sold because of it, correct?
It’s true!
People were buying guns I otherwise couldn’t give away. Like the Tec-9 and the Tec-22 Scorpion. Pure junk! But I made tons of profit because people want what they thought they couldn’t have. I never sold a single “after ban” assualt weapon.
Nobody wanted them. They all wanted the “pre-ban” guns. And they paid handsomely for them.
And high cap magazines. I paid $4 wholesale for 50 round AK-47 mags. In late 1994 alone I sold over 100 of them for $80 apiece. I don’t think any of the people that bought them even owned AK’s!! The first year of the ban was great!!!
There was lot’s of stuff available (there still is) but people were willing to pay a premium because they were afraid they’d never be able to get them again. Towards the middle of the ban sales cooled, but were still better than before it.
I only deal guns on the side. But my records indicate that in the last 10 years total I made almost $126,000 more in sales because of the assault weapons ban. Almost 13 grand more per year. Not bad for a side gig that started out as a hobby! Before the ban I was selling very few of any type of guns. I opposed the ban on a basis of liberty (it IS Constitutionally illegal). But, hey! A bucks a buck!
Fuck 'em.
That “assault weapons ban” was a perfect example of knee-jerk legislation gone wrong. Define what a “rifle” is. Now a “shotgun”. Okay, now a “pistol” and “revolver”. . .
. . . so now define to me in exact terms what an “assault weapon” is. :dubious: Oh, you say it looks scary? Oh, I see. Oh, and you say it shouldn’t be in my hands? That I don’t need it? That it’s too tempting to misuse by the general public?
Congratulations Senator, you’ve just described my credit card.
I don’t think slapping a media-generated label to a particular firearm is going to produce any real, tangible results. Well, maybe not tangible to the general public, but tangible dollars to the FFLs who the general public come screaming to. :rolleyes: pkbites, I’m glad you made a pile of cash. At least some good came out of such stupidity.
Tripler
Thank God I’m a discerning gun owner.
What do your customers use these assault weapons for, pkbites ?
What do you think? Probaby the same thing that I do with mine: Shoot holes in paper or cans.
I honestly believe they kept them in a closet and didn’t use them at all! They just paniced and bought them up.
You wouldn’t believe the garbage people bought. Especially in 94/95, in the begining of the ban. Intratec! Pure junk. I had never sold a single one before the ban. Not one! Then I sold a bunch. At one time the wholesale cost, with a 32 round mag was just $139! They sold for $199. After the ban, I was getting $350 and higher. A few went for over $600! That’s insane for such junk! But they paid it!
Ak-47’s. Nobody ever wanted until they were banned. Nobody wanted the 7.62mm. All of a sudden, they had to have them. The wholesale price was just $269 before the ban (depending on WHICH AK. Some were much more).
And Russian made SKS rifles. Though not specifically listed on the ban, it came with a bayonett. All of a sudden people wanted them. I had never even seen one until after 11/94. And at $69 wholesale, I was selling them at 150% mark up!
And magazines. People were paying top dollar for hi cap mags.
I sold about 120 mags for the Sig P229 .40. I paid about $28 each. They went for $140. The strange thing is, they only hold 12 rounds, just 2 more than the post-ban 10 round mags. But people wanted them.
Tell people they can’t have something, and they’ll pay more for it!
Almost all my sales over the past 10 years, about 80% have been about pre-ban assault weapons in one way or another. Either a rifle, or accessories.
After monday, I don’t think I’ll be selling anything. Nobody will want them anymore.
Already my sales on internet auction sites has dropped like a rock.
People stop buying what they figure they can always get.
By the way. I don’t know how many folks here have read my bio, but I’ve been in law enforcement for 20 years. The department I work for has over 250 officers.
Very few that I spoke to is at all concerned about the ban expiring. VERY few.
In fact, most of them are looking forward to it ending because it means they won’t have the hassle of getting a letter from the chief everytime they want to buy a high-capacity magazine.
John Kerry stated that every police officer in the country supports the ban.:dubious:
Um…WRONG!
Even the few cops I know who do support gun control say the AWB was poorly written and ridiculous!
shakes head at crazy Americans
Do you guys have no notion of overkill? A water pistol would probably subdue those cans you know…
But we HATE those cans!
I’ve seen this, even up here in the pacifist North.
I don’t follow gun issues, so I don’t know if this is related to the current kerfuffle, but back in the 90s three of my friends imported AKs from the U.S. because legislation was coming in to outlaw sales. I remember that the folks at Canada Customs were careful to point out that the ammunition that they came with wasn’t legal for hunting.
They took them down to a firing range a couple of times, and since then (as far as I know) they’ve never been out of storage.
Thank you, Avenger , since you can get away with that and I probably can’t since I am one of the crazy Americans 
You are absolutely correct (I would say right but I try not to use that word this close to November in an election year… )
We seem to have no notion of overkill. I don’t have a cite but would not be surprised if we lead the world in death by civilian guns. Impressive, huh? :rolleyes:
The AWB may have been poorly written but it was a start. One we needed IMHO.
Oh, this is the pit…ok…IMFO.
:smack: that post is mine…smartini
Red Stilettos is my daughter and used my pc last night
actually I am a damn good shot with a gun even though you would wonder since I cannot seem to “post straight”…however that does not mean I or any other ordinary citizen needs an assault weapon 
Of what? What else, IYFO, did it need?
In my fucking opinion?
Teeth.
I know that, come monday, I will be keeping an eye out for fear of being bayonetted to death.
Could you elaborate?
Assault weapons are designed to kill large numbers of people quickly. I think the ban got hung up on the description of the weapon, ie no pistol grip, no bayonnet attachment, etc. Our citizens aren’t really bayonetting each other to death. Manufacturers began as soon as the ban was enacted to “sport-friendly” the same guns the ban inteded to remove from our streets. Conversion kits are available, as well as instructions on how to convert an “unbanned” weapon into one that is “banned” just by using relatively ordinary materials. For the element of our society who wanted these weapons it was probably business as usual, just a little harder. The ban stats are probably affected by this, ie how could it work if there were simple ways around it?
IM(ever so)HO, we need to not only renew the ban but make it stronger. Rapid fire weapons that can kill large numbers of people quickly are not a hallmark of a civilized society.
The ban covers rapid fire weapons? When did this happen? I was under the distinct impression that the ban only affected Semi-automatic weapons(One trigger pull == one shot).
Right. When is the ban on high-nitrate fertilizer and diesel going to be enacted?
I have to admit too, that my “assault weapons” have spent over a year in my gun safe, only because I haven’t had a chance, nor have found a place I like, to take them ‘plinking’. Lord knows I’ve made a lot of Diet Pepsi cans in that time though. . . 
Rapid fire weapons (automatics, multiple rounds fly at the pull of a trigger) are restricted to licensed individuals. Semiautomatic weapons (one pull, one round), have a lethality rate dictated by the shooter. “Rapid fire” weapons may not be a hallmark (and IMHO aren’t really needed by the average joe), but an armed populace with access to the same type and make of firearms that their government has, is a hallmark of a civilized democracy.
And so far, we are lucky enough to be secure in that democracy, that people take this fact for granted in the United States.
Tripler
I’m pro-gun, pro-democracy. But: Don’t Tread on Me.
Please describe for me, in detail, what makes the Bushmaster AR-15 capable of killing ‘more people quickly’ than the Ruger Mini-14.
Both, by the way, were available prior to the so-called ‘Assault Weapons’ ban.
Are you talking about the conversion of a semi-automatic (autoloader) rifle to one with fully automatic fire capability? Because if so, the so-called ‘Assault Weapons’ ban had absolutely nothing to do with fully automatic machine and submachine guns. Those have been heavily regulated since the Firearms Act of 1934, and it’s also been illegal since that time to convert an autoloader into a machine gun.
The ban was a foolish, unreasonable, and bad law from the beginning because it set out to ban something that didn’t exist (assault weapons) and define such purely on cosmetic grounds rather than actual functionality.
You, apparently, bought into the media hype and the lies of HCI.