The Ban on the Importation of Non-Sporting Firearms and Their Partsįederal law prohibits any person from importing a firearm unless authorized by the US attorney general. Manufacturers took advantage of this loophole by boosting production of assault weapons in the months leading up to the ban, creating a legal stockpile of these guns. The law also did not prohibit the continued transfer or possession of assault weapons manufactured before the law’s effective date.
The two-feature test and the inclusion of some purely cosmetic features created a loophole that allowed manufacturers to successfully circumvent the law by making minor modifications to the weapons they already produced. The 1994 act did suffer from notable limitations, however. 1 (2019): 11–19.Īs described above, studies show that the federal assault weapons ban resulted in a marked decrease in the use of assault weapons and large capacity ammunition magazines in crime. 10 Additional information is available in our summary on Large Capacity Magazines.Ĭharles DiMaggio et al., “Changes in US Mass Shooting Deaths Associated with the 1994–2004 Federal Assault Weapons Ban: Analysis of Open–source Data,” Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery 86, no. The federal ban also prohibited the transfer and possession of any new large capacity ammunition magazine.
9 The full “semiautomatic assault weapon” definition from the 1994 act is available here. The 1994 act defined the phrase “semiautomatic assault weapon” to include 19 named firearms and copies of those firearms, as well as certain semi-automatic rifles, pistols, and shotguns with at least two specified characteristics from a list of features. Thus, semi-automatic, military style weapons that were formerly banned under federal law are now legal unless banned by state or local law. 8 The law was adopted with a sunset clause, however, and expired in 2004, despite overwhelming public support for its renewal. In 1994, Congress adopted the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which made it “unlawful for a person to manufacture, transfer, or possess” a semiautomatic assault weapon. 7 Summary of Federal Law The Lapsed Federal Assault Weapons Ban 67% of Americans- including half of all Republicans-support a ban on assault weapons. The American public strongly supports efforts to better regulate assault weapons. Importantly, researchers have been able to demonstrate that the federal assault weapons ban prevented mass shootings and decreased the diversion of assault weapons to criminal use, despite limitations in law which allowed manufacturers to circumvent the regulations.In several major cities, the share of recovered crime guns that were assault weapons declined by at least 32% after the federal ban was adopted.Studies also suggest that state level assault weapons bans help to prevent mass shooting deaths.During the 10-year period the federal assault weapons ban was in effect, mass shooting fatalities were 70% less likely to occur compared to the periods before and after the ban.Studies of both the lapsed federal assault weapons ban and state-level assault weapons bans show that these laws help to reduce fatalities and injuries from mass shootings, as well as the use of assault weapons in crime. 3Ī growing body of research demonstrates that banning assault weapons can help to prevent gun violence. An assailant with an assault rifle is able to hurt and kill twice the number of people compared to an assailant with a non-assault rifle or handgun.An analysis of public mass shootings resulting in four or more deaths found that more than 85% of such fatalities were caused by assault rifles.Assault weapons have been used in the seven deadliest mass shootings in the last decade.Because of this lethality, assault weapons are frequently the guns of choice for individuals who carry out horrific public attacks. Wounds caused by assault weapons are more severe and lethal than wounds caused by other firearms, and, particularly when paired with large capacity magazines, assault weapons can injure more people more quickly. 1 Between 19, certain “semiautomatic assault weapons” were banned at the federal level, but currently there is no federal law regulating these highly lethal weapons. They are a relatively new class of weapon-during the 1980s, the gun industry sought to reverse a decline in consumer demand for guns by developing and marketing new types of weapons based on high-powered military designs. Assault weapons are a class of semi-automatic firearm specifically designed to kill humans quickly and efficiently.