User Panel
Posted: 9/14/2021 10:03:27 AM EDT
17 years ago, on September 14, 2004 the provisions of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act relating to so called "Assault Weapons" sunset and ceased to exist!
It marks one of the few times American citizens ever gained any firearms rights back once lost to the government! Some states passed their own versions of the bill and for those states the ban really never went away, but what it did do in several cases was free up thousands of "Pre-Ban" guns in other states that could still be legally possessed in the new state ban states. I remember building my first AR shortly after the ban went away. I ordered a $200 complete DPMS lower and bought an upper off of a neighbor who had thoroughly infected me with BRD! It was all downhill after that. |
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I was in college and had a folding stock for my AK and collapsible stock for my AR ready to be installed the next weekend I was home.
I got drunker than fuck on the evening of the 13th. |
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I shall celebrate by drinking a regular soda and shit posting on ARF!!!
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Happy ban sunset day gents. In Feb 2005, was my first AR experience. Ordered a Mega Machine Shop Gator lower from Tumwater, WA out of the shotgun news. I still have it & use it every time I go to the range. Edit: to finish the story, put in a doublestar lower parts kit & topped it off with a bushmaster upper. Bushmaster was the shit in 2005! |
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Who remembers the old awbsunset site? That's what led me here.
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There was a local gun store very near where I work. They had a sign up for a few years after the ban sunset that they would sell semi-auto rifles to LEO ONLY. I wouldn't even go in to browse at lunch time after that. They did eventually go out of business. I guess a lot of gun people are not very forgiving.
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That was a great day. As you said, one of the few times people have gotten freedom back from government.
I still have a relic of the dark times. Attached File |
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I was in college when the ban sunset, but i was far too poor to own any gun that would have been considered an Assault Weapon. Just had to make Due with my SKS. Bought my first AR in 2007 and an AK not too much after. didn't actually assemble my first AR til 2018
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Removed a couple of Cav-comps and added flash hiders. Also added collapsible stocks to everything.
Then started buying mags. |
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I had folding stock ready to go for my SAR 2 that night. I wish I still had it.
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Cool. I wasn't into AR's until Obama said I shouldn't have one.
Too bad Fast Terry 2.0 is going to be able to sign the Va Safe Act into law. |
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That was a fun night around here. Watching everyone celebrate as it hit midnight in their area.
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I bought a Colt LE6920 in JULY 2004, and it sat at my FFL until today. I think it was $900. Price skyrocketed for folks chasing that "LE/restricted" engraving.
It was a gamble, but it paid off. |
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Quoted: I had folding stock ready to go for my SAR 2 that night. I wish I still had it. View Quote I bought an ak with a shoulder thing that goes up (yugo m70ab2).I didn't know anything at all about ak's at the time. I just knew it had a shoulder thing that went up and that I was finally allowed to have it. I also wish I still had it. |
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I don't remember anyone really caring. Seemed most just went about doing what they wanted during that time anyway.
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Was before my time, so I'll ask a question.
In the months leading up to it, was there a general expectation that it would actually be allowed to expire? Or were most expecting a last minute renewal? |
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Quoted: Was before my time, so I'll ask a question. In the months leading up to it, was there a general expectation that it would actually be allowed to expire? Or were most expecting a last minute renewal? View Quote When it was passed there was almost no question it would be renewed in 10 years. That's why the sunset was agreed to to gain those last few votes needed for passage. By the time of the 2000 election I knew it was a dead duck. GWB had given lip service to supporting a ban, but when given the opportunity to pass the Protection in Lawful Commerce in Arms Act with the ban attached rejected the idea. So it was obvious he didn't want the ban because he definitely supported the PLCAA. Many people even on here didn't believe it would ever go away until that fateful night! |
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It never sunset in New York as we had basically a mirror copy of the Federal ban without the sunset clause. Former Governor George Pataki-R thought he could garnish support from the left by pushing for and getting the ban (he was wrong of course). We got the draconian unSAFE Act in 2013 in response to Sandy Hook. And upheld by the 2nd Circus except for the 7 round magazine limit which was upped to 10. There was never an appeal to SCOTUS because Scalia had passed away and there was no clear path to a successful challenge.
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On that day I un-pinned my blast enhancer on my Armalite M15 and installed a YHM Phantom. I also tossed my pinned carbine stock and installed a proper buffer tube and M4 stock.
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I was wrapping up high school. It was all over the news. Constant video of people shooting machine guns.
Ironically I fired an "assault weapon" for the first time a few days later. A semiauto Tommy Gun, a very nice piece with a scope. Targets were a bunch of clay pigeons. I was shooting with the guy who had the gun and his son. His son missed every target with 10 rounds. The owner clipped one of the targets with his last shot. My first time shooting such a gun, I nailed every single target. |
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I remember threading some barrels on a lathe for evil flash suppressors. I felt good while I was doing that.
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To celebrate back then I got a new barrel with a bayonet lug and Phantom Flash Suppressor... and MAGS.... LOTS OF MAGS... ate a lot of PB&J sandwiches to save money to pay for all of it.
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There was only one silver lining to the expiration in my case: a lot of "post-ban" configuration upper assemblies and 10-round mags went on sale at a discount as manufacturers wanted to clear them out to make room for standard configuration stuff.
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Quoted: There was only one silver lining to the expiration in my case: a lot of "post-ban" configuration upper assemblies and 10-round mags went on sale at a discount as manufacturers wanted to clear them out to make room for standard configuration stuff. View Quote Missouri has a 10 round magazine limit for deer hunting with a semi-auto. Before the ban most hunting style mags were 5 rounds and it was hard to get a 10 round mag for hunting. After the ban 10 round deer season mags were everywhere and I bought a bunch after the sunset for all of my guns for cheap! |
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It's amazing how much more we worried about compliance back then
It was a good day. I bought 12rd Steyr mags for my M40 the week before it sunset for ~$7 each. Had them shipped to my FFL where I picked them up as soon as it sunset. CDNN raised the price to around $30 each once they could sell them to everyone. I bought a bunch of used 30rd AR mags as I was a poor college student. Thought it was wonderful I could get 30rd mags for $6 or $7 as guys sold their old mags off and replaced them with brand new mags. |
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Quoted: It's amazing how much more we worried about compliance back then It was a good day. I bought 12rd Steyr mags for my M40 the week before it sunset for ~$7 each. Had them shipped to my FFL where I picked them up as soon as it sunset. CDNN raised the price to around $30 each once they could sell them to everyone. I bought a bunch of used 30rd AR mags as I was a poor college student. Thought it was wonderful I could get 30rd mags for $6 or $7 as guys sold their old mags off and replaced them with brand new mags. View Quote A dozen gun owners prosecuted or outright shot for owning an illegal brace and everyone would be complying again. |
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I was just a poor college student when it expired, and didn't really get into them until around 2015 when I got to shoot one that a guy from work put together from a PSA kit.
I eventually put my own PSA Freedom rifle kit together around 2017 and lurked here for a while trying to figure out what else to do (and search results for things like inverter generators often sent me here as well). Helped a few others build their kits since then as well, and I've built one for every member of our family and my parents. I'm glad I got most of those kits during the salad days, along with a decent amount of LC ammo when it was still around $0.30/rd on clips in cans. |
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Yeah, I remember that day. All of a sudden I could buy magazines that held more than 10 rounds. LOL
FJB and fuck democrats |
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I remember the count down clock. I pushed the pins on a Rra m-forgery when the clock got down to 0.
It was one of the dumbest do nothing laws ever passed. |
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Yes. The worst part about the ban in my opinion was the 10 round mag limit.
The actual guns weren't banned. Just certain features. But boy how I lusted after a Bushmaster Patrolman's Carbine! |
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Quoted: Yes. The worst part about the ban in my opinion was the 10 round mag limit. The actual guns weren't banned. Just certain features. But boy how I lusted after a Bushmaster Patrolman's Carbine! View Quote Now I've got better toys Attached File |
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I remember going to a local gun show a few weeks after the sunset. The merchandise on display was glorious.
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I cut off my KKF brakes and installed A2 flash hiders once it became clear that there was no path forward for a renewal, despite FGWB promising to sign one.
I already had surplus USGI mags so I waited until things calmed down to start accumulating more. It was a good day. |
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Quoted: There was a local gun store very near where I work. They had a sign up for a few years after the ban sunset that they would sell semi-auto rifles to LEO ONLY. I wouldn't even go in to browse at lunch time after that. They did eventually go out of business. I guess a lot of gun people are not very forgiving. View Quote Wow. Sounds like they got exactly what they deserved. |
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Quoted: A dozen gun owners prosecuted or outright shot for owning an illegal brace and everyone would be complying again. View Quote Your statement might of been true when the AWB was enacted, but now the attitude is very different. Prison is not a deterrent nor is getting shot to death by the Feds, I think we are all past the point of caring anymore and are doing what we please. |
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