<story><title>In 1980s Los Angeles, a bank was robbed every hour (2019)</title><url>https://crimereads.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-bank-robbery-capital-of-the-world/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>conception</author><text>Just a point of clarification for those not familiar with the heist, the weapons used were -not- legal in CA or the US. It was also during the time of the Federal Assault Weapons ban. They were not owned nor able to be owned legally during that time.&lt;p&gt;It was also the inspiration for Heat’s shootout!</text></item><item><author>Melting_Harps</author><text>Yeah, many of us that grew up in SoCal recall the heist that led to the so called &amp;#x27;assault weapon&amp;#x27; ban, it was completely legal to have a long barrel rifle with 30 round magazines in CA prior to that--they could be open-carried if not loaded back then if I recall correctly, too.&lt;p&gt;This was around the time of the LA riots in the 90s, too... which in my mind all happened at the same time as I recall being a kid sat in front of the TV not far from it all and being shocked at the level of wanton destruction.&lt;p&gt;California was always a wild place since its inception and before it was ever a part of the US--many who live here don&amp;#x27;t even realize that California (both alta and baja) pre-dates the existence of the US and British colonialism by a significant margin.&lt;p&gt;LA in the 80s was also Ground Zero for Gang warfare in the US, so us multi-generationals lived through that and adapted and we are am entirely different breed to the transplants and the rest of the US as fires and earthquakes were also taking place alongside those events, as those didn&amp;#x27;t stop either.&lt;p&gt;And while I personally have no desire to live in CA anytime soon, except the occasional visit, I&amp;#x27;m glad so many decided to leave since COVID. In a decade or two it may look like and feel as it did when I was a kid in the 90s and I may be tempted to go back.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>DennisP</author><text>So to clarify that...the federal Assault Weapons Ban applied to semi-auto rifles with certain ergonomic features, including pistol grips, flash hiders, and folding stocks. (Semi-auto is one bullet per trigger pull, full-auto means you can hold the trigger down and spray bullets.)&lt;p&gt;The North Hollywood robbers had illegally modified their weapons to enable full-auto fire. Since well before 1997, modifying guns like this has been a federal felony that gets you a ten-year prison sentence. That&amp;#x27;s a prohibition that predates the Assault Weapon Ban, which had nothing to do with full-auto weapons.&lt;p&gt;The AWB has since expired, and doing your own full-auto conversion will still get you ten years in the slammer. You &lt;i&gt;can&lt;/i&gt; buy a full-auto weapon, but only after an extensive background check and approval of your local sheriff, if your state allows it, and only if the weapon was manufactured before 1986.&lt;p&gt;The movie Heat, of course, also had its robbers using full-auto. Incidentally, the movie came out before the North Hollywood robbery; many people have actually blamed the movie for inspiring the real robbers, one of whom owned a copy of the movie!&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;North_Hollywood_shootout&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;North_Hollywood_shootout&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Federal_Assault_Weapons_Ban&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Federal_Assault_Weapons_Ban&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Heat_(1995_film)#Impact&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Heat_(1995_film)#Impact&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>In 1980s Los Angeles, a bank was robbed every hour (2019)</title><url>https://crimereads.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-bank-robbery-capital-of-the-world/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>conception</author><text>Just a point of clarification for those not familiar with the heist, the weapons used were -not- legal in CA or the US. It was also during the time of the Federal Assault Weapons ban. They were not owned nor able to be owned legally during that time.&lt;p&gt;It was also the inspiration for Heat’s shootout!</text></item><item><author>Melting_Harps</author><text>Yeah, many of us that grew up in SoCal recall the heist that led to the so called &amp;#x27;assault weapon&amp;#x27; ban, it was completely legal to have a long barrel rifle with 30 round magazines in CA prior to that--they could be open-carried if not loaded back then if I recall correctly, too.&lt;p&gt;This was around the time of the LA riots in the 90s, too... which in my mind all happened at the same time as I recall being a kid sat in front of the TV not far from it all and being shocked at the level of wanton destruction.&lt;p&gt;California was always a wild place since its inception and before it was ever a part of the US--many who live here don&amp;#x27;t even realize that California (both alta and baja) pre-dates the existence of the US and British colonialism by a significant margin.&lt;p&gt;LA in the 80s was also Ground Zero for Gang warfare in the US, so us multi-generationals lived through that and adapted and we are am entirely different breed to the transplants and the rest of the US as fires and earthquakes were also taking place alongside those events, as those didn&amp;#x27;t stop either.&lt;p&gt;And while I personally have no desire to live in CA anytime soon, except the occasional visit, I&amp;#x27;m glad so many decided to leave since COVID. In a decade or two it may look like and feel as it did when I was a kid in the 90s and I may be tempted to go back.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Melting_Harps</author><text>&amp;gt;  Just a point of clarification for those not familiar with the heist, the weapons used were -not- legal in CA or the US. It was also during the time of the Federal Assault Weapons ban. They were not owned nor able to be owned legally during that time.&lt;p&gt;Only semi-correct, they had full-auto AK47s and extended mags, all of which at the time could be purchased and legally owned with a special stamp by the ATF [0]. As a child a friend&amp;#x27;s father had one he would bring out on new years to only short lived amusement in the neighborhood as we all lived in a densely populated suburb near a major freeway.&lt;p&gt;But without them, yes, you couldn&amp;#x27;t just go to a store and buy one off the shelf.&lt;p&gt;0: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;legalbeagle.com&amp;#x2F;8731203-class-three-stamp-through-atf.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;legalbeagle.com&amp;#x2F;8731203-class-three-stamp-through-at...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>