There is some confusion about the Assault Weapons Ban. Fully-Automatic weapons have been banned in the USA from 1934. Since then, US citizens simply cannot purchase or own fully-automatic weapons. The Assault Weapons ban banned the purchase and ownership of semi-automatic versions of fully-automatic guns. While a semi-automatic version of an automatic gun does not have its rate of fire, it can still theoretically be fired just as fast as an automatic weapon, as long as the trigger can be pulled fast enough. The provisions are there to enable high rates of fire: barrel shrouds, high capacity magazines and pistol grips were banned. Thus, any weapon with these features was banned. So it has always (since 1934) been illegal to have automatic weapons in the United States. The Assault Weapons Ban deals with semi-automatic versions of automatic weapons. The ban did not stop people from getting semi-automatic versions of automatic weapons, though, as manufacturers began assembly lines of semi-automatic "sporting" versions of automatic weapons. The ban had many loopholes, but was useful in the fact that it made it more difficult for people to get semi-automatic versions of fully-automatic weapons.
If I remember correctly a commonly exploited loophole was the ammunition loophole. While for instance 5.56x45mm calibre weapons were prohibited, .223 Remington weapons weren't, ironically these calibres are exactly the same. So instead of buying a 7.62x51mm M21, someone would buy a .308 Winchester hunting rifle. <Z>
