Gun Control & RKBA
In reply to the discussion: This message was self-deleted by its author [View all]benEzra
(12,148 posts)picking one up would be a small investment; a Smith & Wesson or Ruger AR can be had for under $600 if you shop around. AR's are still legal even in California and New York, but the handgrip shape legislation makes ban-compliant ones less ergonomic and (to my eye) rather funny looking, so if you one one with a decent grip and adjustable stock and are worried about new handgrip/accessory restrictions, then by all means get one. Or, pick up a few magazines for guns you might want to own someday, as a hedge against unlikely-but-not-out-of-the-question new bans.
At minimum, rifle and magazine prices are going to increase for a while over the next year, because I think sales are going to increase. I don't think an actual Federal ban is likely for many reasons, not least of which is the backlash against the Feinstein non-ban of 1994; if 25 or 50 times as many people own "assault weapons" now as then, and the Feinstein law provoked an immense backlash even though it didn't actually ban AR's and AK's or their magazines at all, then the backlash against an actual ban now would be monumental.
I'm actually in the "thinking about buying a rifle" boat myself, not for a second AR but for a small-caliber bullpup of some flavor; I've wanted an AUG since the late 1980s, but William J. Bennett and Dianne Feinstein priced that idea right out of my working-class reach in the '90s, so I went with an AR-15 instead. Now that I'm a bit better off financially, I may make an AUG or something a financial priority; we'll see. I would hope Clinton would be smart enough to not actually push for new rifle or magazine restrictions, but I thought Gov. Hickenlooper was too until he caved, so I've been wrong before.