SAN FRANCISCO — Ten years after it was born out of the carnage of three California mass shootings, the federal assault weapons ban is fading out of existence Monday. While manufacturers look for a boom in business as people buy up previously banned weapons like AK-47s, Uzis and TEC-9s, police chiefs warn of an upsurge in crime. The law's chief sponsor, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, is urging retailers not to sell the disputed weapons, while hoping for a change... (GunPolicy.org)

President Bush doesn't care, and neither do the Republican House and Senate leaders. They're content to open up the streets to the pointless and exceptionally deadly gunfire of assault-style weapons. Their cold political calculation: Let the assault weapons ban expire Monday night, and let the police in particular and everybody in general fend for their lives. After all, that's the way people like it — or so claims Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) who,... (GunPolicy.org)

The 10-year-old federal ban on the manufacture and transfer of assault weapons will quietly expire tomorrow, under the watch of a president who is running for re-election as the candidate most likely to keep the country safe. While George W. Bush has said he would sign an extension of the ban if Congress voted for it, he has done little to encourage this. Opinion polls reveal that most people, including law enforcement officers, support the assault weapons ban.... (GunPolicy.org)