re: #458 wlewisiii

Here’s the text of the 1994 Act, which includes the Federal Assault Weapons Ban. Section 110101 lists several weapons, and then further indicates that weapons with particular characteristics are considered assault weapons for purposes of the legislation:

The term ‘semiautomatic assault weapon’ means—
‘‘(A) any of the firearms, or copies or duplicates of the
firearms in any caliber, known as—
‘‘(i) Norinco, Mitchell, and Poly Technologies Avtomat
Kalashnikovs (all models);
‘‘(ii) Action Arms Israeli Military Industries UZI and
Galil;
‘‘(iii) Beretta Ar70 (SC–70);
‘‘(iv) Colt AR–15;
‘‘(v) Fabrique National FN/FAL, FN/LAR, and FNC;
H. R. 3355—203
‘‘(vi) SWD M–10, M–11, M–11/9, and M–12;
‘‘(vii) Steyr AUG;
‘‘(viii) INTRATEC TEC–9, TEC–DC9 and TEC–22; and
‘‘(ix) revolving cylinder shotguns, such as (or similar
to) the Street Sweeper and Striker 12;
‘‘(B) a semiautomatic rifle that has an ability to accept
a detachable magazine and has at least 2 of—
‘‘(i) a folding or telescoping stock;
‘‘(ii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath
the action of the weapon;
‘‘(iii) a bayonet mount;
‘‘(iv) a flash suppressor or threaded barrel designed
to accommodate a flash suppressor; and
‘‘(v) a grenade launcher;
‘‘(C) a semiautomatic pistol that has an ability to accept
a detachable magazine and has at least 2 of—
‘‘(i) an ammunition magazine that attaches to the pistol
outside of the pistol grip;
‘‘(ii) a threaded barrel capable of accepting a barrel
extender, flash suppressor, forward handgrip, or silencer;
‘‘(iii) a shroud that is attached to, or partially or completely
encircles, the barrel and that permits the shooter
to hold the firearm with the nontrigger hand without being
burned;
‘‘(iv) a manufactured weight of 50 ounces or more when
the pistol is unloaded; and
‘‘(v) a semiautomatic version of an automatic firearm;
and
‘‘(D) a semiautomatic shotgun that has at least 2 of—
‘‘(i) a folding or telescoping stock;
‘‘(ii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath
the action of the weapon;
‘‘(iii) a fixed magazine capacity in excess of 5 rounds;
and
‘‘(iv) an ability to accept a detachable magazine.’’.

Further, the 1994 legislation defines large capacity ammunition feeding device:

DEFINITION OF LARGE CAPACITY AMMUNITION FEEDING
DEVICE.—Section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code, as amended
by section 110102(b), is amended by adding at the end the following
new paragraph:
‘‘(31) The term ‘large capacity ammunition feeding device’—
‘‘(A) means a magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar
device manufactured after the date of enactment of the Violent
Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 that has
a capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted
to accept, more than 10 rounds of ammunition; but
‘‘(B) does not include an attached tubular device designed
to accept, and capable of operating only with, .22 caliber rimfire
ammunition.’’.

The prohibition was written such that it was unlawful to transfer or possess those items except if they were otherwise lawfully possessed on or before the enactment date (1994) and there were certain additional exemptions from the requirement.