Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Historical reactions to assault weapons bans

I'm not from Virginia but am living here at least for the next couple years. I'll be impacted by the assault weapons ban, if passed which at this point, I think will likely happen. The lunatics now in charge of the legislative process here are totally unphased by the groundswell of gun rights supporters. I think they have no intention of bending, probably because they know that in the end, the courts will fail to act and that the demographics have shifted in the state enough such that the republicans will never hold all three branches of the state government. Yeah, they *might* pay a small price in the next election but not enough to threaten passed legislation and like all liberals, they're in it for the long game anyways.

According to Wikipedia, there are seven other states and the District of Columbia, that have assault weapons bans, California being the first having enacted theirs in 1989. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_weapons_legislation_in_the_United_States

Here are some questions for those of you with personal experiences with these state bans. What happened to the banned firearms in your state once the laws were enacted? i.e. did you have to sell them, move them out of state, turn them in? Was there a similar large-scale reaction like here in Virginia? What was the experience like IMMEDIATELY AFTER the ban was enacted?

The breadth of the ban that’s being proposed in Virginia and the literal millions of firearms it will make illegal, is simply mind boggling to me. If the legislation is passed, I think we’re all going to hear Virginia howl as they attempt to enforce compliance. There will be protests, we’ll hear about legal battles in the news, etc…. I think the defiance will be loud and last for some time.

I don’t recall hearing as much protest when other states enacted bans. Did the citizens in those states just go quietly complaint (quietly relative to the reaction in Virginia)?

You don’t have to be a gun guy in Virginia to know chit is about to get real here. You can feel it everywhere. There is a tension across the state like I’ve personally never observed before and I just don’t recall seeing or hearing about that same type of reaction in states with bans, particularly after the bans were enacted, which surprises me.

Virginia needs to secede from that tiny area with all the Bolsheviks pushing these laws.

California passed the infamous Roberti-Roos assault weapons ban in 1989. It was described in the press a year later as "the single largest act of civil disobedience in Calif history''. Compliance by the citizens was in single digits. California DOJ records were so bad they didn't know who had what, so forced confiscation was not possible. But, over the next 30 years, we suffered death by a thousand cuts. Drip, drip, drip. Now it's all about the magazine capacity, and the infamous 'bullet button' for mag changes. Just harassment, I doubt any magazines were destroyed, prolly lots of mags in the freezer in shrinkwrap. I paid little attention to it, don't really know what's legal and what isn't. People in the west don't really go to organized ranges like back east, in my opinion, just load up your guns, head for the bush, have a day of fun. You seldom see any leo's out and around, and when you do, they don't seem inclined to pursue the maze of Calif gun law. I have never heard of anyone getting busted, but then I'm 600 miles north of LA, and they say it's a different world down there.

Interesting.

It'll definitely be harder for owners to use their illicit arms here. Unless you own land, you're pretty much limited to ranges. And while many counties are becoming "2A Sanctuaries", I wouldn't trust law enforcement to not enforce the ban, just on their word. They'll start to use it to nab people they want for other reasons, but have insufficient stuff on them, and it'll just devolve from there.

Yeah, that's how rule of law vanishes. You make so many things illegal, that everyone is guilty of some felony or other, so cops have the power to arrest on a whim. They can always find something on you, so many things being felonies.

Swords were illegal to own in most of the world until the rifle was invented.
I think rifles are about to lose political power with the introduction of swarms of armed drones.

I expect an easing or assault rifle restrictions.
And I expect that coyote populations will finally be controlled.

~ 1986 I spent a lot of time designing electronics to sell the Northup for their drone. Those parts are still being made. That is an expensive drone. Cheap ones are coming.

Agreed. In many ways we're already there. I liken it to offensive holding in football... you can find it in every play if you want.

I'm talking from a safe place, but I think that the proper form of civil disobedience would be for all gun owners on a select Tuesday to march down to your local police station and turn yourself in. Say that you've hidden your guns but came to be arrested. What would they possibly do with a million new prisoners? Every one of whom will now sue them for overcrowding, violations of civil rights, unfair treatment, and several new things only shady lawyers could come up with.

Prosecutors would be forced to drop charges, courts would be completely overwhelmed, the whole justice system would grind to a halt. And the laws would have to be repealed as utterly unenforceable.

I've thought about that too. Or something like picking days where we all call the police and flag one another as a "red flag threat"... millions of calls at the same time. Clogs up the lines, make it impossible to check on all of them, etc...

Not saying these acts of civil disobedience aren't worth a try but with the moonbats running the show now, I don't think they'd care. They'd probably just ignore it, turn people home, not do red flag checks, etc... until things started to cool down. I think they fully expect it's going to be bumpy for awhile but they're still willing to ram it down our throats and ride out the storm. Its a long game to them.

I had an opportunity to ask a Calif game warden last year, "so how hard are you going to push this lead bullet ban?"
"Not big on my radar, but if I'm dealing with an aszhole on a real issue, I'll use it, Kinda like the seatbelt law."
But that's just one guy. Also, in the Calif paper of record, the Sacramento Bee, in an interview with the Director of the Calif DFW, the reporter asked, "How do you view the upcoming lead bullet ban?" Director, dodging the question nicely replied, "My sons and I are stocking up on the lead core, it'll still be legal for target and recreational use". Doesn't sound like a lot of enthusiasm for the nonsense coming out of the Dem legislature. I'm guessing even less enthusiasm for the complexities of firearm "features" bans.

In Colorado we've had zero prosecutions of the assault weapons ban.

We've had ONE prosecution of the magazine ban which was a gang banger involved in a drive by. It was thrown in along with the kitchen sink for all his nefarious activities such as attempted murder, felon in possession etc.

Not exactly a poster child for the second amendment advocates to stand behind during an appeal.

The assault weapons bans usually comes into play with other crimes are committed. Usually big drug busts, or gang or biker raids. No one is actively seeking out AW owners. My range doesn't bother anyone with them or 10+ mags. They are mostly stacker laws.
Under the current law you needed to register your rifle as an assault weapon. After that you are considered a criminal. That system was fooked up and caused some real headaches for people and one guy out of Bakersfield I think, got himself locked up trying to comply. With a RAW, you could only take it out to go from home to the range and back home. I neutered mine. Removed the flash suppressor and added a thread protector but I could have used a brake. Fixed one adjustable stock with a sheet metal screw and added A2 stocks to another. Added stupid grip fins so it wouldn't be a pistol grip anymore. The upside is I was able to take off the stupid bullet button. An out of the box M1A or Ruger Mini 14 are good to with their detachable magazines so these stupid laws make no sense at all.
If you owned a AK, AR15 etc. before 2013 the state has no record of ownership anyway so confiscation is a moot point.

Yup, the one enforcing the law in effect writes the law.

In light of this, GEO group, CoreCivics and MTC court governments. All three of these are private prison companies. You are convicted then an interstate transfer happens to one of their facilities anywhere in the country. There are closed facilities all over the country. Prisons using dormitory style are easy to build, basically not much more than a dressed up pole barn.

To offset the cost inmate are used for forced labor, factories inside the facilities.

i have heard rumors of various firearms that were on the boo boo list in california, never registered. sat in closets for years until magically appearing in arizona for sale.
california is truely fu*ked up. few years ago a bunch of springfield m1a's showed up in arizona, dumped here by some law enforcement agenices in north/central calif that wanted new toys.
some of the rifles still had the springfield gold grease inside, had never been used.
I still remember during one of the mass shooting a few years ago some 400pound black female deputy huffing and puffing trying to run with a mini14, which is more politically correct.
i also know of confiscated firearms from the pacific northwest, later sold into the state of arizona.

Exactly... Overload the system - it's right from Alinsky...

Different states have different types of cops.

As do different municipalities.

The slower the area, the more they tend to be proactive. Keep that in mind as you read responses from other states.

Or rectify the situation more directly.

I'm think that VA is attempting to plow new ground with the threats of confiscation via the National Guard as the enforcement tool.

Probably a new ballgame compared to what's happened in the past.

MM

Aint gonna work in California, NJ, Massachusetts, New York.Many cops in urban areas are anti gun and would be happy to arrest and the prosecutors would be happy to prosecute and fine gun owners.