Efforts to create restrictions on assault weapons at the federal government level intensified in 1989 after 34 children and a teacher were shot and five children killed in Stockton , California with a semi-automatic Kalashnikov pattern rifle . The Luby 's shooting in October 1991 , which left 23 people dead and 27 wounded , was another factor . The July 1993 101 California Street shooting also contributed to passage of the ban . The shooter killed eight people and wounded six . Two of the three firearms he used were TEC-9 semi-automatic handguns with Hell-Fire triggers . The ban tried to address public concerns about mass shootings by restricting firearms that met the criteria for what it defined as a " semiautomatic assault weapon " , as well as magazines that met the criteria for what it defined as a " large capacity ammunition feeding device "
Luby 's shooting
Luby's shooting
Federal Assault Weapons Ban