The Next Assault Weapons Ban
Firearms legislation is a funny think in the United States. In 1775, the 10th Regiment of Foot of King George took a march in the countryside on a mission to seize privately held arms and munitions. These red coats, as they were called, were held up at a little village of Lexington by local militia members and the rest is history. Since the 2nd amendment was added to the US Constitution, there have been several public laws and acts that have come and gone to limit it. Some of these, like the black codes of the 1860s, the ten years long Clinton-era Assault Weapons Ban (AWB), and the 1994 Brady Bill has largely been overturned. Others, like the National Firearms/Gun Control Acts of 1934, 1938, and 1968 along with the establishment of the ATF (now the BATFE) in 1972 remain.
Read the rest at my column at Firearms Talk http://www.firearmstalk.com/entries/The-Next-Assault-Weapons-Ban.html