The ban actually had no effect on criminal usage, but at the time the stats on use of an AR while in the commission of a crime was well below 1%, making the ban ridiculous to begin with.
It seemed to be all about how "scary" the AR looked, compared to other guns that were just as deadly.
Slick Willy even admitted his ban in the 90's had no effect other than keeping them out of the hands of legal, law abiding citizens.
Or criminals.
The ban actually had no effect on criminal usage, but at the time the stats on use of an AR while in the commission of a crime was well below 1%, making the ban ridiculous to begin with.
It seemed to be all about how "scary" the AR looked, compared to other guns that were just as deadly.