How was it during the last ban?

[LPMan59]

I was in grade school during the first AWB passed in the 94, so I have no idea what it was like. I was however around for the post-08 election and it seems that this scare dwarfs that panic in terms of sales.

Was the outrage the same? the panic and hysterical buying? the fears of registration and confiscation? other boards and blogs are comparing Feinstein's proposed legislation to the Intolerable Acts.

Was this how it was in 1994? Or is this time different?

 

[downrise14]

It wasn't much different. Prices skyrocketed, people panic, supplies bought out. One way or the other it will calm down eventually.

 

[melensdad]

It wasn't much different. Prices skyrocketed, people panic, supplies bought out. One way or the other it will calm down eventually.

Except it was different.

The scope and scale of this AWB has the regular citizens in panic buying mode. People who never owned guns before bought guns last time. Well that is happening again, except on a much larger scale. If 5% bought last time then it appears that 20% are buying this time. I can't prove the numbers but its much more pervasive now.

And the last time there were very few magazine fed guns relative to the gun owning population. This time they are talking about banning the MOST POPULAR rifle sold in America. Magazine fed guns are now the common guns and lever and bolt action guns are rarely used. It was the other way around in the early 90's.

Consider revolvers too. The "wonder 9s" were only becoming common in the late 80's and early 90's but revolvers were the dominant home defense guns at the time. 5 shot J and 6 shot K frames were the common handguns. Heck Para-Ordnance was one of the few hi-capacity handguns of the time and they had their 14 shot magazines and if you could find them they sold for $100 each on the used market.

Also consider the "carry culture" that has evolved over the past 12 to 15 years. As "concealed carry" became a mainstream idea, and everyone from truck drivers to business execs to housewives to part time real estate agents began to carry guns the gun choices exploded. Kel Tec and Ruger 380 pistols exploded in popularity but we are now in "carry culture 2.0" with people switching to serious guns like 9mm and 45acp . . . and many of those guns are on the 'Assault Weapons' chopping block. Say goodbye to your Glock 19 folks!

So it was like this, but it was different. This time it is much worse. This time the stakes are much higher.

 

[LPMan59]

Except it was different.

The scope and scale of this AWB has the regular citizens in panic buying mode. People who never owned guns before bought guns last time. Well that is happening again, except on a much larger scale. If 5% bought last time then it appears that 20% are buying this time. I can't prove the numbers but its much more pervasive now.

And the last time there were very few magazine fed guns relative to the gun owning population. This time they are talking about banning the MOST POPULAR rifle sold in America. Magazine fed guns are now the common guns and lever and bolt action guns are rarely used. It was the other way around in the early 90's.

Consider revolvers too. The "wonder 9s" were only becoming common in the late 80's and early 90's but revolvers were the dominant home defense guns at the time. 5 shot J and 6 shot K frames were the common handguns. Heck Para-Ordnance was one of the few hi-capacity handguns of the time and they had their 14 shot magazines and if you could find them they sold for $100 each on the used market.

Also consider the "carry culture" that has evolved over the past 12 to 15 years. As "concealed carry" became a mainstream idea, and everyone from truck drivers to business execs to housewives to part time real estate agents began to carry guns the gun choices exploded. Kel Tec and Ruger 380 pistols exploded in popularity but we are now in "carry culture 2.0" with people switching to serious guns like 9mm and 45acp . . . and many of those guns are on the 'Assault Weapons' chopping block. Say goodbye to your Glock 19 folks!

So it was like this, but it was different. This time it is much worse. This time the stakes are much higher.

so the sales aspect is much more intense. It definitely is worse than in 08-09.

What about the political side? Now I realize that the interwebz and social media are much more available and pervasive than in 1994 but were people in the gun community as energized, wound up, paranoid, or whatever?

 

[melensdad]

On the political side there were a lot more "Letters to the editor" at the local newspapers. I know because a group of us actually came together at the time to flood the papers with Pro-Gun letters across northwest Indiana. We were organized and active, it was a small group, but totally dedicated. We kept the pressure up on the newspapers editorial pages by hitting the papers with SHORT, FACT FILLED letters that 1) criticized the errors made by their reporters, 2) corrected the errors made by their reporters, 3) informed them of the truth, and 4) took politicians to task for their lies.

I was personally attacked in THE TIMES, POST TRIBUNE and NEWS DISPATCH by name by Rep Peter Visclosky. He literally came after me in an Op-Ed piece for criticizing him. That set off a firestorm of letters rebuking him. Again, we had numbers willing to write letters.

At the time there was no FACEBOOK, there were specialty "forums" but they were in their infancy. So it was mostly trading information on the internet and then pushing the information through the newspapers.

 

[reedo]

Before we saw prices skyrocket-ammo, AR's, Mags etc. Everyone who had a "pre-ban" thought that they were sitting on gold and tried to sell them for extremly high prices. Mags were not hard to find-just very high priced.

 

[melensdad]

I actually still own a early '90's "Pre-Ban" AR15.

Yup, people thought they were sitting on goldmines if they owned them. In fact, they were worth a decent chunk of change, but this price run up today is dwarfing that one.

Realize also that in today's world we see a lot of different uses for AR15s. We commonly go coyote, hog, antelope and deer hunting with our AR15s. And while we do that, the guns for each are pretty radically different. A coyote AR will have a long heavy barrel, free float tube, and be set up like an accurate varmint rifle, but a hog gun may be more like a carbine configuration and a deer gun (at least in Indiana and several other states) will fire a big bore round but the antelope hunters are using a combo-gun with heavier barrels and flat shooting rounds like the 6.5 Grendels.

Please realize that there were 2 basic AR15 configurations in the pre-ban days. Carbine and Rifle. Those were your choices. Free float? WTF was that? Quad Rail? A2 upper? Any color as long as its black, has a carry handle and a fixed stock.

 

[downrise14]

I agree everything is on a grander scale this time, but the same thing is going on.

 

[FMJ]

so the sales aspect is much more intense. It definitely is worse than in 08-09.

What about the political side? Now I realize that the interwebz and social media are much more available and pervasive than in 1994 but were people in the gun community as energized, wound up, paranoid, or whatever?

I dont seem to remember the sheer volume of outrage from the "gun culture" at that time. Almost like people sat back and thought "It wont/cant happen"...then it HAPPENED.

It seems (I sure hope i am reading the portents correctly) this time people are more motivated, they KNOW it CAN happen, and this time around they want grandads gun, they want 'em ALL...they want registration (which leads to confiscation 100% of the time)

Get busy kids, time is short...make sure your contacting your reps and getting the word out over spacebook and other forums...get EVERY gun owner in EVERY district in EVERY state contacting....and dont forget to remind your erected officials EXACTLY what the fate of those that did vote for the last AWB was!

 

[Pack Rat]

At that time I wanted a AR but had just bought a house and could not afford one. The local sporting goods store also had Norinco SKS. Before the ban the SKS were 89.85 3 weeks later they were 135.00 when I purchased mine. Still could not afford the AR. I think the jumped from 250 to 450. Either way It was too much for me. Many years later my neighbor had a gun sale and he gave me 250 trade on my SKS toward a AR at 750 so I think it still worked out.

 

[bwframe]

This is an all together different ballgame now. There is no comparison. We now have the experience of going through a ban. Combine that with modern day communications (night and day) compared to '94.

We know what can happen, thus we should use that experience. To start with we need to be careful with wording. We should avoid referring to "the first ban," "the last ban," "this ban," etc. "The ban" where our rights were infringed should be the terminology.

As established and common place as the Internet is, we need to find a way to best effectively use this medium as our means to organize against our enemy. There is NO reason that we should allow "the ban" to reoccur. I would contend that "the ban" would have never happened in '94 if we could have known then what we know now.

 

[actaeon277]

I think it is different (worse) now for two reasons.

With many more TV channels, more news channels, and the internet; you have a big "feedback". Just like the news reporting on killings, over and over and over. The gun ban news has people scared, more than before.

And, I think that the panic buying didn't happen till later, last time.
I mean, we don't even have a bill in congress yet. They still have to present the bill, argue, work out differences, revote, submit to the Senate, rework vote, send back to House, etc.

And I agree with Melensdad.

 

[CarmelHP]

so the sales aspect is much more intense. It definitely is worse than in 08-09.

What about the political side? Now I realize that the interwebz and social media are much more available and pervasive than in 1994 but were people in the gun community as energized, wound up, paranoid, or whatever?

Yes, more so maybe, but after the fact. In 1994, there was a error by the NRA. They told everyone to lay low and that there was no chance of a ban passing. I remember Bud Gates, who was Indiana's NRA rep at the time, shouting at me that I shouldn't "believe everything I read on the Internet" when I told him it had passed. He assured us at the gun club meeting that night that it "had definitely not passed" and he was "in constant contact with ILA." By the 11:00 news, everyone knew it had passed. So don't let up on cards, letters, and phone calls to Congress. Our gun club membership doubled in a month, adding several hundred new members. The USEnet groups were buzzing with outrage. There was a lot of organizing to oppose it. Both houses of Congress switched parties that year primarily due to the ban.

 

[squirrelhntr]

whats really strange is there are a few of the exact same players involved twenty or so years later.

 

[Shoots4Fun]

Question?

During the 1994 ban, could weapons such as AR's and AK's still be sold legally between individuals?

I was just a noob during that time to guns and didn't know to care as much as I do now.

 

[OneShotFOGE]

One thing to consider when looking at todays prices is the US dollar has lost its value significantly. Thats a big reason why everything from guns to gas to food costs more today.

I wasnt too young in 94 but we did have a record amount of gun sales last month by a significant amount. It seems to me that people are more concerned this time about the ban. People in general are buying more guns now even before the talk of a ban.

 

[winchester]

During the 1994 ban, could weapons such as AR's and AK's still be sold legally between individuals?

I was just a noob during that time to guns and didn't know to care as much as I do now.

yes, those were the days too for slightly used norinco mak 90's that non gun people impulse bought. wish i would have bought more from the guys who changed their minds about those thumbhole stock sporting rifles.

 

[gvbcraig]

Prior to the ban going into effect, I purchased every gun on the list I could afford. That was the basis for my collection.

 

[TTravis]

It just seems to me that assault weapons were not all that common back then. I was in the Army in those days and got my fill of playing around with real M16's.

 

[Signal23]

This is an all together different ballgame now. There is no comparison. We now have the experience of going through a ban. Combine that with modern day communications (night and day) compared to '94.

We know what can happen, thus we should use that experience. To start with we need to be careful with wording. We should avoid referring to "the first ban," "the last ban," "this ban," etc. "The ban" where our rights were infringed should be the terminology.

As established and common place as the Internet is, we need to find a way to best effectively use this medium as our means to organize against our enemy. There is NO reason that we should allow "the ban" to reoccur. I would contend that "the ban" would have never happened in '94 if we could have known then what we know now.

I agree and we should Stop The use Of The Word ASSAULT IN ANY CONVERSATION.