[error99]

A couple of things:
1)All of the things that you say you bought cost you twice what they should have cost because of the ban on new manufacture or importation. There is a limited supply to meet an increasing demand.

2)The ban effectively puts a halt to any R&D, improvements, innovation. It is not in the text of the ban, it is a consequence of the ban. Spending money on innovation can not be justified by maufacturers or inventors, because the manufacture of any new items would be illegal. In other words, had the ban been in place earlier, ther would have never been a TEC series or a MAC series, etc, etc. Of course, the 'antis' see that as a 'good' thing. But th ban has curtailed the introduction of 'new' weapons and innovations.

[Larry Lucido]

Ditto that. Plus, the restrictions constitute one more chink in a fundamental right. Worse, they attempt to make distinctions that really cannot be made. Once one scary weapon is defined as an "assault weapon," it is easy to keep redefining additional arms as assault weapons.

[Wild Game]

I understand what you're saying, but a Yugo SKS is $129.00, and Romanian AK47 is about $200. How much lower can they go?

As far as the Tec's, Intratec came out wth an AB 10, same as the Tec 9, weighs 4 ounces more to comply with the law. R&D is a very good point however.

[HamiltonJay]

What are you talking about there would be no MAC or TEC series? Submachine guns certainly would have been developed with or without the assault weapons ban, militaries are constantly developing weapons... I find your argument that innovation has been stifled in firearms unsupported by facts. Seems like nothing more than opinion.

You seem to forget that single biggest driver of weapons technology, is unquestionably the military and warfare, not joe consumer. R&D certainly has not stopped in firearms, nor will it stop.