Claim: Assault rifles already are banned.
Verdict: REFUTES

Retrieved passages:
title: Federal Assault Weapons Ban
text: In 2004, a research report commissioned by the National Institute of Justice found that if the ban was renewed, the effects on gun violence would likely be small and perhaps too small for reliable measurement, because rifles in general, including rifles referred to as "assault rifles" or "assault weapons", are rarely used in gun crimes. That study, by Christopher S. Koper, Daniel J. Woods, and Jeffrey A. Roth of the Jerry Lee Center of Criminology, University of Pennsylvania, found no statistically significant evidence that either the assault weapons ban or the ban on magazines holding more than 10 rounds had

title: Assault weapons legislation in the United States
text: rounds), pistol grip, and certain types of firearm stocks such as telescoping or collapsing stocks. Also included are lists of various classes and models of firearms, including semi-automatic firearms, AR-15 style rifles, assault weapons, semi-automatic pistols, semi-automatic shotguns, and others, some of which have already been banned or restricted under existing legislation including grenade launchers. The legislation also proscribes high-capacity magazines. Three U.S. states passed assault weapons bans before Congress passed the federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994: California in 1989, New Jersey in 1990, and Connecticut in 1993. Four others passed assault weapons bans before AWB 1994 expired in

title: Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Control Act of 1989
text: banned by specific name, and which has a fixed, non-detachable 10-round (maximum, anything above 10 is a felony) magazine. In such a configuration, otherwise prohibited features such as a telescoping stock, pistol grip, and flash hider may be present. While formerly prohibited under the now-expired federal assault weapon ban of 1994–2004, the presence of a bayonet lug is not prohibited by California state law and can be present on firearms without violation. However, the magazine cannot be detachable, so to load the rifle the shooter must "top load". To top-load, the shooter pulls the rear takedown pin, hinges the upper

title: Assault weapon
text: that support restrictions on ownership of firearms include the Brady Campaign and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. Prominent opponents of assault-weapons bans include the National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of America. In 2002, the NRA's Wayne LaPierre and Jim Baker said "assault weapons" is a pejorative term. The National Shooting Sports Foundation considers it a politically driven catchphrase aimed to conflate non-automatic weapons with full-automatic assault rifles. As of 2012, there are an estimated 2.5-3.7 million rifles from just the AR-15 family of rifles in civilian use in the United States; the total number of assault weapons in

title: Assault Weapons Ban of 2013
text: 2013, Obama announced a plan for reducing gun violence in four parts, one of which was banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. The plan included 23 executive orders, signed immediately by the president, and 12 proposals for Congress, including reinstating and strengthening the ban on assault weapons that was in place from 1994 to 2004, and limiting ammunition magazines to 10 rounds. The proposals were opposed by the NRA and the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), and opposition was expected by Republican and some Democrat legislators. On January 24, 2013, Dianne Feinstein and 24 Democratic cosponsors introduced , the Assault

title: Federal Assault Weapons Ban
text: number of exemptions and exclusions from its prohibitions: In 1989, the George H. W. Bush administration had banned the importation of foreign-made, semiautomatic rifles deemed not to have "a legitimate sporting use." It did not affect similar but domestically-manufactured rifles. (The Gun Control Act of 1968 gives discretion to the Attorney General of the United States to choose whether to "authorize a firearm or ammunition to be imported or brought into the United States," under what is known as "the sporting purposes test.") Following the enactment of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, the ATF determined that "certain semiautomatic assault rifles

title: Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act
text: registries for sexual offenders by September 1997. Title XI-Firearms, Subtitle A-Assault Weapons, formally known as the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act but commonly known as the Federal Assault Weapons Ban or the Semi-Automatic Firearms Ban, barred the manufacture of 19 specific semi-automatic firearms, classified as "assault weapons", as well as any semi-automatic rifle, pistol, or shotgun capable of accepting a detachable magazine that has two or more features considered characteristic of such weapons. The list of such features included telescoping or folding stocks, pistol grips, flash suppressors, grenade launchers, and bayonet lugs. This law also banned possession

title: L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle
text: federal restrictions on ownership of L1A1 semi-automatic rifles. However, the 1989 import ban on military-style semi-automatic rifles made it impossible for genuine L1A1 rifles to be imported into the United States. The Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which lasted from 1994 to its expiration date in 2004, banned certain semi-automatic firearms by name as well as by features, which included several variants of certain military-style firearms, such as the FN-FAL and AR-15. Although the 1994 ban expired 10 years later, several states continue to enforce their own laws against military-style semi-automatic rifles, including California, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, and

title: Assault Weapons Ban of 2013
text: Weapons Ban of 2013, into the U.S. Senate. The bill was similar to the 1994 federal ban, but differed in that it used a one-feature test for a firearm to qualify as an assault weapon rather than the two-feature test of the 1994 ban. Such a move would deter the average gun owner from wanting to purchase a neutered rifle. In addition, it banned: the sale, transfer, importation or manufacture of about 150 named firearms; firearms with thumbhole stocks and bullet buttons; the importation of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines; and high-capacity ammunition magazines (defined as those capable of holding

title: Assault weapons legislation in the United States
text: weapons ban tried to address public concern about mass shootings while limiting the impact on recreational firearms use. In November 1993 the ban passed the United States Senate. The author of the ban, Dianne Feinstein D-CA, and other advocates said that it was a weakened version of the original proposal. In January 1994 Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center, said handguns and assault weapons should be banned. In May of that year former presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan wrote to the United States House of Representatives in support of banning "semi-automatic assault guns." They

title: Assault Weapons Ban of 2013
text: more than 10 rounds). It would grandfather in weapons legally owned on the day of enactment and exempt more than 2,000 specific firearms "used for hunting or sporting purposes." On March 14, 2013, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the bill, though it was expected not to clear the full Senate. (Had the bill passed in the Senate, it was not expected to pass in the House of Representatives.) The NRA's reaction to the proposed bill was swift. Its Institute for Legislative Action division started a "Stop The Gun Ban" campaign before the legislation was introduced in the Senate, asking its

title: Assault Weapons Ban of 2013
text: over 100 million "high-capacity magazines" (as defined by the bill) already in circulation in the United States. They also said that very few of these magazines were registered and a ban like this would be ineffective in keeping these magazines out of criminal hands. Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 The Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 (AWB 2013) was a bill introduced in the 113th United States Congress as by Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, on January 24, 2013, one month after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. It was defeated in the Senate on April 17, 2013 by a vote of

title: Gun laws in California
text: and model in California Code of Regulations (the "Kasler list"); it did not address assault weapons defined by features. Thus, only firearms specifically listed by exact combination of manufacturer and model name, or conforming to explicit exterior characteristics (such as a pistol grip or folding stock in combination with a detachable magazine) can be banned under current legislation. Once it was realized the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) had not updated the "Kasler list" in the five years after the "Harrott" decision, many Californians found they could legally purchase and possess AR and AK rifles not yet officially identified

title: Gun laws in New York
text: Statewide, New York enforces various firearm related prohibitions, many proscriptions similarly listed in the now-expired Federal Assault Weapons Ban. On January 15, 2013, the state assault weapons ban was made more restrictive by the NY SAFE Act. Specified rifle magazines are banned: a) manufactured after 1994; and b) the magazine holds in excess of 10 rounds (handguns included). In December 2013, a federal judge ruled the seven-round magazine limitation is "'tenuous, straitened, and unsupported,' and therefore unconstitutional." Any semi-automatic rifle (with a detachable magazine) or shotgun (non-pump) with just one of these features are banned: 1) pistol grip; 2) bayonet

title: Assault weapons legislation in the United States
text: second state in the U.S. to pass an assault weapons ban, after California. At the time, it was the toughest assault weapons ban in the nation. AR-15 semi-automatic rifles are illegal in New Jersey, and owning and publicly carrying other guns require separate licensing processes. Although it is commonly referred to as an assault weapons ban, New Jersey's law actually uses the term "assault firearm" to define banned and regulated guns. Some New Jersey gun advocates have called its laws "draconian." Attorney Evan Nappen, author of several books on New Jersey gun laws, says the term is "misapplied and carries

title: High-capacity magazine ban
text: would be a licensing effort of staggering proportions) but to prohibit the possession of high capacity magazines. By a simple, complete and unequivocal ban on large capacity magazines, all the difficulty of defining 'assault rifle' and 'semi-automatic rifles' is eliminated. The large capacity magazine itself, separate or attached to the firearm, becomes the prohibited item. A single amendment to Federal firearms laws could effectively implement these objectives." William B. Ruger The Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1993 included a ban on magazines capable of holding more than ten rounds of ammunition. The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act,

title: Federal Assault Weapons Ban
text: Community Preventive Services, an independent, non-federal task force, examined an assortment of firearms laws, including the AWB, and found "insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of any of the firearms laws reviewed for preventing violence." A 2004 critical review of firearms research by a National Research Council committee said that an academic study of the assault weapon ban "did not reveal any clear impacts on gun violence outcomes." The committee noted that the study's authors said the guns were relatively rarely used criminally before the ban and that its maximum potential effect on gun violence outcomes would be very small.

title: Assault weapon
text: or importation of magazines that could hold more than ten rounds of ammunition, with existing magazines grandfathered in as legal. The Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 defined certain firearms as assault weapons based on the features they possessed. This included semi-automatic rifles with a detachable magazine and at least two of these features: a pistol grip, a folding or telescoping stock, a flash suppressor or threaded barrel, a bayonet mount, or a muzzle-mounted grenade launcher. It included semi-automatic pistols with a detachable magazine and at least two of these features: a magazine that attaches outside the pistol grip, a

title: Federal Assault Weapons Ban
text: could no longer be imported even though they were permitted to be imported under the 1989 'sporting purposes test' because they had been modified to remove all of their military features other than the ability to accept a detachable magazine" and so in April 1998, it "prohibited the importation of 56 such rifles, determining that they did not meet the 'sporting purposes test.'" Under the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, the definition of "semiautomatic assault weapon" included specific semi-automatic firearm models by name, and other semi-automatic firearms that possessed two or more from a set certain features: The ban defined

title: Assault weapons legislation in the United States
text: federal ban and four more passed before the federal ban expired. The majority of states, forty-three, have no assault weapons ban, although two, Minnesota and Virginia, have training and background check requirements for purchasers of assault weapons that are more stringent than those for ordinary firearms. While there are no statewide assault weapon bans in Colorado and Illinois, local bans exist in certain cities or counties in each of these states. In 2018, most Americans supported a ban on assault weapons, according to polls. The 1994 federal and 1989 state ban in California were prompted by the 1989 Cleveland Elementary