<P> In November 1993, the proposed legislation passed the U.S. Senate . The bill's author, Dianne Feinstein (D - CA) and other advocates said that it was a weakened version of the original proposal . In May 1994, former presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan, wrote to the U.S. House of Representatives in support of banning "semi-automatic assault guns". They cited a 1993 CNN / USA Today / Gallup Poll that found 77 percent of Americans supported a ban on the manufacture, sale, and possession of such weapons . </P> <P> Rep. Jack Brooks (D - TX), then chair of the House Judiciary Committee, tried unsuccessfully to remove the assault weapons ban section from the crime bill . The National Rifle Association (NRA) opposed the ban . In November 1993, NRA spokesman Bill McIntyre said that assault weapons "are used in only 1 percent of all crimes". The low usage statistic was supported in a 1999 Department of Justice brief . The legislation passed in September 1994 with the assault weapon ban section expiring in 2004 due to its sunset provision . </P> <P> The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Act was enacted as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 . The prohibitions expired on September 13, 2004 . </P> <P> The Act prohibited the manufacture, transfer, or possession of "semiautomatic assault weapons," as defined by the Act . "Weapons banned were identified either by specific make or model (including copies or duplicates thereof, in any caliber), or by specific characteristics that slightly varied according to whether the weapon was a pistol, rifle, or shotgun" (see below). The Act also prohibited the transfer and possession of "large capacity ammunition feeding devices" (LCAFDs). An LCAFD was defined as "any magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar device manufactured after the date (of the act) that has the capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than 10 rounds of ammunition". </P>

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