“I am very much a supporter of the 2nd Amendment, but the weapon the kid was carrying is exactly the weapon banned by the assault weapon law.”
It meets the medias very loose definition of an “assault weapon” and was likely one of the models or very similiar to those addressed by the assault weapons ban. This weapon does not meet the technical definition of an assault weapon.
The ban was not effective in any of its efforts. Even Janet Reno admitted that. If it was firing 3 round bursts then it was illegal unless he had a class 3 license. With his criminal background that is very unlikely.
“But this also means none of those assault weapon provisions in law would have prevented this, thus proving how useless they are.”
The laws only success was to increase prices and make it more difficult for law abiding people to purchase firearms. The anti-gunners have mostly given up on outright banning firearms. They are working to accomplish their goals through incrementalism. Make firearms and ammo expensive. Regulate them extensively to discourage ownership. They are also moving to make more and more offenses adequate justification for eliminating someones 2nd amendment rights permenantly.