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I'd love to get a first hand account of what the 1994 AWB did to the gun owning community. Did prices spike like they did when Obama was elected? Did "hi-cap" magazines triple in price? What was the general 'feel' in the gun owning community?

I was 15 at the time and barely remember...

Thanks!

I remember buying high-cap mags shortly thereafter (pre-ban they called them) that were running about 15% higher than normal. Once I had mine I kind of quit paying attention. I 'spect the price raised more as the supply diminished but IIRC they were always available. There was a spike in the used market for "ugly guns" affected by the ban as they were grandfathered, some of those got pretty high. Ammunition stayed about the same.

They called it the Assault Weapons Ban but they defined assault weapons way out of line with what the military calls assault weapons, or gunsmiths or firearms designers or anybody with any sense. All that was required to ba an assault weapon was that it was black, synthetic stock, any military styling like flash suppressors, bayonet lugs, etc. That's why it became known as the "Ugly Gun Ban". It was truly farcical.

I purchased my first handgun in the fall of 1992, shortly after turning 22 years old. It was a Beretta 92FS, and I remember stocking up on high-cap magazines shortly before the ban went into effect.

To be honest, even when the law was in place, you could still always seem to find the "pre-ban" magazines...or at least I could, so the law did little if anything to change anything except give the anti-gun lobby a warm fuzzy. What irks me is that it's "stupid" legislation. You're banning weapons primarily based on cosmetic differences. The high-cap magazines didn't go away, so the law was ineffective in changing anything there. In my opinion it was useless legislation and I was happy when it was no longer in effect.

Glock magazines went through the roof!

G19 & G23 magazines went from $19.99 to $99.00 and G17 & G22 went up to $119.00.

During the ban all high cap, really standard capacity, magazines had "Law Enforcement Only" stamped or etched on the body of the magazine along with the date of manufacture. I still have several like that.

Oh, and 1911's became more popular than ever.

mbw wrote:Glock magazines went through the roof!

G19 & G23 magazines went from $19.99 to $99.00 and G17 & G22 went up to $119.00.

See, I didn't remember that, my "pre-ban" purchases were at Big Town very shortly after the law came in. $119.00 !?!

My dad went out and bought some assault weapons before the ban went into effect ak-47, ar-15, etc

HK91's went from about $800 to as high as $3,500; HK93's went higher than that. I bought AR-15 30rd mags at every gun show until they got to $15; then I quit. Prior to the AWB, I was paying about $6/mag.

Chas.

AndyC wrote:

CrimsonSoul wrote:My dad went out and bought some assault weapons....

Argh - don't use that term, please!

So my dad went out and bought some semi-automatic rifles that were not in fact assault weapons because they weren't fully automatic and he didn't have the correct FFL license to possess said fully automatic weapons.

ParaOrds came with a coupon for two hi-cap mags for $100 shipped from the factory. My dealer always offered $125 for the coupon and told me he sold the mags each for $100. Never sold mine.

Like others said, standard magazine prices went up but there was always a good supply available at gun shows.

Sub-compact handguns became more popular. If you're limited to 10 rounds, make the gun smaller. Like in software, when you can't fix the bug, feature it.

Dragonfighter wrote:That's why it became known as the "Ugly Gun Ban". It was truly farcical.

I won't mention what we called the "thumb hole" stocks that proliferated to comply with the stupid rules.

The rest of the nation eventually recovered from that nonsense. In California, it only got worse since then, and remains that way today.

The Annoyed Man wrote:The rest of the nation eventually recovered from that nonsense. In California, it only got worse since then, and remains that way today.

Yep, which is one of the reasons I refuse to ever move to California. In my line of work (software engineering) Silicon Valley is the place to be for jobs. I was recently approached about the possibility of working for Google, and I told them, "No thank you, not unless you reopen an office in Texas." (Google closed their Austin facility a year or so ago.)

The Annoyed Man wrote:The rest of the nation eventually recovered from that nonsense. In California, it only got worse since then, and remains that way today.

You hit the nail on the head there. I'm loving that the gun enthusiast community in California has figured out a way to legally own AR-15s there, even if they are California Neutered.

CrimsonSoul wrote:he didn't have the correct FFL license to possess said fully automatic weapons.

All he needed was a tax stamp from the ATF.