Assault Weapons Ban Reauthorization Act of 2005

The Assault Weapons Ban Reauthorization Act of 2005 (S. 620) proposed to reinstate a federal ban on the manufacture, transfer, and possession of certain semiautomatic assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines for a period of ten years. The bill identified specific firearm models and physical characteristics that would qualify a weapon as prohibited, while providing exemptions for firearms legally owned before the law’s enactment, manually operated firearms, and those used by law enforcement or government agencies. For the average citizen, this legislation would have restricted the future purchase of many popular semiautomatic rifles and magazines holding more than ten rounds, while requiring new firearms to be marked with their date of manufacture for tracking purposes.