But their raw change has been massive. When I came of age, I could not: carry concealed in my home state or more than a hand full of them, or buy ammunition mail order, and the BATFE was in the process of exterminating US gun culture.

Since then I cannot buy a machine gun manufactured after 1986, nor an imported "assault weapon", nor buy a gun from a dealer without an "instant check", and as fiatmoney mentioned, nationally "assault weapons" have mostly cycled.