Excerpt: “It appears that the assault weapons ban had clear short-term effects on the gun market, some of which were unintended consequences: production of the banned weapons increased before the law took effect and prices fell afterward. These effects suggest that the weapons became more available generally, but they must have become less accessible to criminals because there was at least a short-term decrease in criminal use of the banned weapons. Evidently, the excess stock of grandfathered assault weapons manufactured prior to the ban is, at least for now, largely in the hands of dealers and collectors. The ban’s short-term impact on gun violence has been uncertain, due perhaps to the continuing availability of grandfathered assault weapons, close substitute guns and large capacity magazines, and the relative rarity with which the banned weapons were used in gun violence even before the ban.”
A 2004 follow-up report is here.
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