The '86 full auto ban was only a small part of the Gun Owners' Protection Act.
The critical vote was a voice vote fraudulently done by the Democrats.
It was not even clear at the time, that the '86 law actually banned production of more full autos. It allows for production under the authority of the government.
Gun owners had been fighting for years for the reforms which were enacted. The activists were not willing to throw them all away because of the poison pill of the '86 full auto ban.
It is horribly bad law, I would say, blatantly unconstitutional.
But it is wrong to claim it was the major focus of the bill at the time.
Yes and that's why I can't give a more accurate analysis.
The activists were not willing to throw them all away because of the poison pill of the '86 full auto ban.
That was a major problem right there. The poison pill should have killed the bill. there was an R majority in the Senate. The President was R. The House was D, but I'm not sure at the time that all Democrats had frothing at the mouth fanatic hatred of armed citizens that they do today.
Any gun restriction tends to be permanent. Any relief to gun owners is only good until the next legislative session. You're no doubt familiar with the way this works. A bad bill passes with so-called "compromises" to get it through. The ink isn't even dry before the anti-gunners are screeching about closing "loopholes" in the bill. We need to find some legislators with the guts to sponsor a pro-gun- bill - ie strike down the full auto ban for example. Not this death by a thousand cuts. No one wins anything by constantly being on the defense.