When owning an assault weapon is more important than the issue of gun ownership I'd guess, from the looks of this thread. And then trying to say background checks shouldn't happen for gun owners. Lots of honor and decency that (sarc)....not to mention a criminals dream.
Prairie
I was frankly astounded when I realized the same thing. I have spent the last 1/2 an hour researching both sides of the issue and there is a grandfather clause for weapons purchased prior to 1994. I cannot believe that they demand the right to own assault weapons as part of the 2nd amendment and then I find out that gun manufacturers have been making guns to get around the ban.
Thanks to the people on this thread, I stand firmly with President Bush, President Reagan, President Bush 41 and their distaste for semi-automatic assault weapons. I have gotten a real education here this afternoon because I thought we were talking fully automatic as assault weapons. Thanks to Mr. Mojo I found out that was not the case. We are talking about semi-automatic weapons with more than a 10 clip capability are banned. Who needs more than 10 bullets to go off one after the other?
Thanks to Freepers who told me about the 1934 ban on fully automatic weapons as well and pointed out where I was wrong which caused me to do the research.
That said, I now support President Bush and the members of Congress in renewing the Assault Weapons Ban after what I have seen posted on this thread. Before this thread I thought it should expire in September -- no longer. When Freepers object to a criminal background check for weapons and the right to buy whatever kind of weapon they want, they lost me completely. I do support the 2nd amendment for rifles, shotguns, and handguns -- there is absolutely zero need for any other weapons in the hands of civilians and I don't care if someone is an expert marksman in the military. We do not live in a dictatorship no matter how much you all whine your rights have been taken away -- they haven't.
This is not 1776 and we are not fighting the British -- times were a lot different back then and if someone wants to take the Constitution literally then they shouldn't have any guns but the type of guns that were around when the Bill of Rights were written. Doesn't that sound ludicrous? Well no background checks and allowing criminals to go in a purchase any gun they want is just as ludicrous IMHO.
This is my last statement on this thread.