Sorry for the bad graphics, but I didn't see an online version of this.

How many more AR-15's, AK-47's and Uzi's are there on the market now than in 1994, even though in post-ban configuration?  My guess is a lot as a %.  I haven't seen anything more than rain water and a little trash flowing in the streets.  If their statistics about reduced crime is correct (and they are screwing with the numbers), then the fact there are more "assault rifles" (their words) would argue that we should increase the number of these types of firearms even more so.

Found this on a Google news search.  It looks like an earlier piece that was the core of the one published today in the paper shown:


www.ajc.com/news/content/news/0804/08guns.html

Weapons ban to die unless Congress acts

By DAVE MONTGOMERY
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Published on: 08/07/04

WASHINGTON — America's most intense gun control debate in a decade is simmering with the approaching expiration of a 10-year ban on assault weapons.

Unless Congress extends it, the ban will expire Sept. 13. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) has indicated that he is unlikely to bring it to a vote. President Bush has endorsed an extension of the ban, but he is not pushing Congress to act.

"It's an uphill battle," Sarah Brady, one of the nation's leading gun control advocates, said in a telephone interview last week. "Our streets are going to be filled with AK-47s and Uzis" unless Congress extends the ban, she said.

The National Rifle Association and allied groups call the ban a cosmetic restriction that deprives Americans of their Second Amendment right to bear arms while curbing crime little.

"I don't think there is an appetite in Congress to extend this ban and wage a battle on the gun issue in a presidential election year," said Andrew Arulanandam, director of public affairs for the NRA. "The ban has proven to be bad policy and bad politics."

Until recently, the debate has been waged quietly, overshadowed by such issues as the war in Iraq and the Sept. 11 commission. But former President Bill Clinton discussed gun control at the recent Democratic National Convention by accusing Bush and the Republicans of putting "assault weapons back on the street."

The ban was a central element of Clinton's $30 billion crime package enacted in 1994. It prohibits the manufacture and distribution of 19 types of semiautomatic firearms and high-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. Guns already on the market were exempted. Assault weapons are generally defined as fully automatic rifles designed for use by police and military forces, but the 1994 law specifically defines certain types of firearms as "semiautomatic assault weapons."

Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, saying he'll have "the courage to stand up to the NRA," has embraced an extension of the ban. He interrupted his campaign in March to return to the Senate for an early test vote on the issue.

Congress will have less than a week to take up the issue before the Sept. 13 deadline after returning from its summer recess following the Democratic and Republican conventions.

Republican leaders have said they have no plans to bring up the issue without the president's directive. And many congressional Democrats, especially those in close races, are skittish about attaching themselves to an issue that could backfire.

Polls have consistently shown that a majority of the public favors an assault weapons ban. An April 23 survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center, a research arm of the University of Pennsylvania, found that 71 percent of the public supports continuation of the ban, compared with 23 percent opposed.

Among gun-owning households, 64 percent favor the ban, according to the Annenberg survey of 28,446 adults. In homes with an NRA member, 46 percent said they want the ban, compared with 49 percent opposed.

The national surveys, however, don't always reflect the issue's political volatility or the depth of feelings about it. Voters in rural and conservative districts tend to chafe at gun restrictions.

Clinton, in his memoir, "My Life," has acknowledged that at least 20 House members who supported the ban were driven from office in the next election.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police favors keeping or strengthening the ban, spokesman Gene Voegtlin said.

At the same time, the prospect that the ban may soon end has prompted cautious optimism among gun dealers and manufacturers.

As they try to shore up enthusiasm in Congress, gun control advocates are challenging Bush to live up to his commitment to continue the ban.

"We need a push by President Bush," said Brady, whose husband, former White House Press Secretary Jim Brady, was critically wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. "I'm trying to give [Bush] the benefit of the doubt, but it's getting awfully close."

White House spokesman Taylor Gross said Bush supports extending the ban but believes tougher prosecution is more effective in combating gun-related crimes.

Jesse Jackson's Dick is a more Dangerous "Assault Weapon" than any gun I own

HOLY BANDWIDTH BATMAN!

I used to live in Raleigh for about 10 years. The News and Observer is one of the most left-leaning shitrags I 've ever had the misfortune of reading. It's not fit to line a birdcage. What a bunch of idiots...

Quoted: I used to live in Raleigh for about 10 years. The News and Observer is one of the most left-leaning shitrags I 've ever had the misfortune of reading. It's not fit to line a birdcage. What a bunch of idiots...

yep!!  very left!!

Quoted: Quoted: I used to live in Raleigh for about 10 years. The News and Observer is one of the most left-leaning shitrags I 've ever had the misfortune of reading. It's not fit to line a birdcage. What a bunch of idiots... yep!!  very left!!

Only thing worse in the Charlotte Observer.....trash,just trash

Point out that the "66% decrease" is only in firearms defined as "assault weapons" in the '94 AWB, and that similar firearms, lacking "assault weapon" features continue to be sold.  Also, that this "66% decrease" was in a category of firearms least used in crimes, around 1% by best estimates.  Studies by the NIJ found no statistically significant change in crime due to the AWB.

Also, crime in general has been declining, and that decline started well before passage of the AWB.

"66%" decrease is a bogus stat.

in that pie graph it is pathetic that half of Households in the NRA want to see the ban renewed.  Why the hell are you in the NRA to begin with then.  Fucking sheeple

.