The now defunct Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act, commonly known as the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (AWB), was a subsection of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, a federal law in the United States that included a prohibition on the manufacture for civilian use of certain semi-automatic firearms it defined as "assault weapons". The 10-year ban was passed by the U.S. Congress on September 13, 1994, and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton the same day. The ban only applied to weapons manufactured after the date of the ban's enactment. The Act expired on September 13, 2004. (Wikipedia)
While there have been efforts to reinstate renew the ban, none have come to fruition. Help me spread this to the depths of the Internet!