Back in the 70s, the ban guns people were concerned with "Saturday Night Specials" and other handguns. Since handguns accounted for the overwhelming amount of murders, riflers, shotguns and AR-15 type weapons were left out of the demand to ban. Even today, 15 times as many murders are done by handguns over rifles of all types, "assault" or conventional long gun. So why not go after the handgun, when the handgun is the true problem?
https://fee.org/articles/are-ar-15-rifles-a-public-safety-threat-heres-what-the-data-say/?fbclid=IwAR0eS5i6y9OgKTX1Sy_zOR4jatbsqgSE9SHhdl6AydTmkWC2IAR3VqUovw0