Assault Weapons Ban: What Firearms Are Not On The List?

Congress is working on a new assault weapons ban bill which will actually protect 2,200 firearms from the ban.

According to the Washington Post, one of the guns protected from the ban is a Ruger .223 caliber Mini-14 which was used in the deadliest FBI shootout in history. The reason that this particular gun will be exempt from the list is pretty simple ... it can not be folded to be more compact.

"What a joke," said former FBI agent John Hanlon, who survived the 1986 shootout in Miami. He was shot in the head, hand, groin and hip with Ruger Mini-14 that had a folding stock. Two FBI agents died and five others were injured.

President Obama called for the restoration of the assault weapons ban after the Newtown massacre. Senator Diane Feinstein, D-CA, introduced a bill that would ban 157 specific military and law enforcement firearms. But even in Feinstein's proposed bill, there are firearms that are exempted that hold high capacity magazines that have been used in mass shootings.

Some gun experts have questioned the banned and exempted list of guns, which shows that members of Congress have no real understanding of guns.

"There's no logic to it," said Greg Danas, president of a Massachusetts-based expert witness business and firearms ballistic laboratory. "What kind of effect is it going to have?"

The assault weapons ban that is being worked out in Congress will ban weapons based on three characteristics, a sliding or folding block, ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds and a pistol or forward grip

On Sunday, Senator Chuck Schumer, D-NY, said that senators were making significant progress on the part of the bill that mentions background checks but are still a distance away when it comes to the actually assault weapons ban.

"I think that certainly Senator [Diane] Feinstein has championed assault weapons and it will be voted on by the Senate," Schumer said on CNN's State of the Union. "We've been focusing on universal background checks, where I think there's a greater chance to come to a bipartisan agreement."

One aspect of the naming of the firearms that are not banned would be a nod to the assault weapons ban on the 1990s. This feature made it possible for the President Clinton bill to pass Congress. President Obama has already passed several new measures, including a couple of executive orders in regards to gun control, but needs Congressional help make major reforms.