Also, quite obviously, the "assault weapon ban" didn't ban anything really. The very same guns were sold with different stocks and with the bayonet lug removed.
But doesn't that make it even sillier? Banning a gun based on what it looks like, rather than what it does?
Marcus Sarjeant, inspired by Hinckley? I'm guessing old Marcus wasn't too awfully intelligent then?
Going ahead with an assasination attempt with a blank firing gun when you couldn't get a real one doesn't suggest he was the brightest.
Second, if Marcus had an ounce of intelligence, he could have gotten a gun.
Well, I'd suggest if the effect of Britain's gun laws was to prevent deranged idiots getting hold of guns, that's a success in itself. As you said, Hinckley was a nutjob, and he had no difficulty getting hold of guns on at least two occasions (I'm assuming the police didn't give his first gun back to him after arresting him for stalking Carter)
But I don't think Sarjeant could have got a handgun, not without pretty good criminal connections.
He'd probably have stood a better chance getting a shotgun, but he's going to look pretty conspicuous in the Mall during trooping the colour with a shotgun.
Next time I come over, I'm going to see how long it takes me to get my hands on a pistol.
I'll send you a cake with a file in it, if you like

Seriously, I suspect you'd find it difficult.
You might find a friend with an old unlicenced handgun, but is your friend the sort that would supply it to a criminal?
It's not really a fair test for a retired airline pilot to find an ex colonel who's kept a war souvenir, becuase the ex colonel might supply it to you, but certainly wouldn't give it to the sort of person that would actually use it.
Any way, do you or do you not recall saying that the post-Hungerford/Dunblane ban had little or no effect?
Yes. We had perfectly good guns laws before that.
What I'm against is trying to extend that, by claiming because a ban in Britain had no effect, bans have no effect.
There's a world of difference between going from very tight regulation to a virtual ban and going from almost no regulation to a virtual ban.