passing a 10-year ban on the manufacture, transfer, or possession of any “semiautomatic assault weapon”
Most guns were never banned. The manufacturers simply changed the name of the rifle, took off the flash suppressor, removed they bayonet lug (how many people were murdered by fixed bayonets since 1900?), made the folding stock permanently fixed, and limited mag capacity to 10 rounds. You could still get a 30 rd magazine “For Police Use Only” if you knew where to look.
Exactly right. I bet Ruger sold a lot of mini-14’s back then.