NYT on the assault Weapons Ban

H/T to the Instapundit.

Wasn't the Violence Policy Center one of the groups pushing the ban?

"The whole time that the American public thought there was an assault weapons ban, there never really was one," said Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center, a gun-control group.

Then there is this confusing little set of statements:

What's more, law enforcement officials say that military-style weapons, which were never used in many gun crimes but did enjoy some vogue in the years before the ban took effect, seem to have gone out of style in criminal circles.

"Back in the early 90's, criminals wanted those Rambo-type weapons they could brandish," said Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police. "Today they are much happier with a 9-millimeter handgun they can stick in their belt."

Apparently the law enforcement official and the Fraternal order of Police don't speak to each other.

There also was not major spike in "assault weapon" sales when the law passed on. There was a slight spike, but that's it. So much of the screams of the gun grabbers about the streets being flooded by assault weapons.

Of course Dianne I-can-carry-a-gun-but-you-shouldn't-be-allowed-to-own-one Feinstein had this to say.

"In my view, the assault weapons legislation was working," said Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, a chief sponsor of the new bill. "It was drying up supply and driving up prices. The number of those guns used in crimes dropped because they were less available."

Nothing to support that, but why would we expect her to actually use facts? Did prices really go up? I don't think so. Especially considering that most of the weapons on the list had so many guns without all the cosmetic that made them scary and bad.

Assault weapons account for a small fraction of gun crimes: about 2 percent, according to most studies, and no more than 8 percent. But they have been used in many high-profile shooting sprees. The snipers in the 2002 Washington-area shootings, for instance, used semiautomatic assault rifles that were copycat versions of banned carbines.

I had to add this statement because it is just such irrelevant rubbish. The Washington-area snipers could have used a bolt action rifle to perform the killings they did. The fact that the gun was a copy of a banned carbine is totally irrelevant to the actions of these murderers. Remember that most of the killings were one-shot-one-kill types. But hey, why use any intelligence in reporting when you can still report emotionally while adding irrelevant information to an article?

They still are screeching about large capacity magazines though. Well, as long as all they are doing is making noise, I can live with it. Unfortunately, there are four states who have laws based on the assault weapons ban. Amazing that you can put in local legislation based on a law that didn't work in the first place.