I fired an AR-15 once while running around chasing opponents through the maze of corridors and dimly lit rooms of James Bond 007, a video game for Nintendo 64. Now I can go out and buy a real AR-15 assault riffle to see what its real potential is.

Monday marked the end of the ‘Assault Weapons’ ban that kept guns like the AR-15, Ak-47 and the Uzi of the streets. The ban, which lasted 10 years, provided a rudimentary form of Homeland Security by taking assault weapons out of the retail markets and reducing the risk to law enforcement officers and civilians. The ban was not even considered for renewal by either the House of Representatives or the Senate, which are both controlled by Republicans.

President Bush, who throughout this election year has made ‘Homeland Security’ a main theme of his campaign has claimed he is a more capable candidate to protect this country, however, the expiration of this ban proves contrary. Since he is sacrificing security to appease large lobbyists like the NRA (National Riffle Association) he is allowing dangerous weapons like the ones used in the Columbine High School shootings, where 12 people died, to return to the streets. The NRA claims that these weapons keep Americans safer by allowing them own these weapons.

Bush who has said that he supports the ban yet has done nothing to facilitate its renewal has only, at best, mirrored his campaign opponent by trying to have it, ‘both ways,’ in other words ‘flip-flopping’ on the subject. Avoiding what could potentially marginalize his conservative support base for this presidential campaign.

Above the campaign rhetoric lays the real impact to the end of this ban. Assault weapons will be available in states without their own laws banning such weapons. This will make it easier for everybody; even terrorists and drug dealers to drive to states like Nevada and purchase one of these assault rifles. Weapons like these can also be purchased at gun shows like the one scheduled for September 25th-26th at the Cow Palace a few miles away from SF State. California’s assault weapons law still remains intact even though the fedral ban has expired.

The ban, which made high capacity ammunition magazines of 10 or more illegal along with other gun options like pistol grips, folding stocks and flash suppressors, has along way to go before its reinstatement. There is no doubt that the 2004 presidential election will, at very least, control the outcome of the ban in the next four years.