netmouse | Why does Congress make laws that expire?

This year we saw a lot of drama around whether or not Congress would renew an expiring ruling onthe interest rates for student loans. Then a line from an article on the recent Colorado Shooting caught my eye:

The AR-15 rife carried by Holmes, a civilian semi-automatic version of the military M-16, would have been defined as a “semiautomatic assault weapon” under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 — which expired in 2004. “The type of ammunition magazine Holmes is accused of using was banned for new production under the old federal assault weapon ban.” Though once it expired, “gun manufacturers flooded the market with the type of high-capacity magazines Holmes used Friday.”

If we at one point thought it made sense to ban assault weapons for private ownership, why was that ban part of a law set to expire? why not make laws and then, when and if someone decides they no longer make sense, let them repeal them or make new laws? Expiration dates on sseem rather arbitrary and therefore nonsensical.

Can anyone explain this to me?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Bush tax cuts actually expire due to a "hard" rule (after a quick Google check to make sure of terms, you can call it the Byrd Rule to Reconciliation); in order to pass budget/monetary changes without dealing with amendments and fillbusters, there's a rule that says you can get certain laws pushed through without having to file closure -- but those laws have to pass a close check against the rules allowing such, AND have to expire after 10 years max. So it's not the same case as with the Brady bill, but the Byrd rule might have inspired the timeframe of the Brady bill's time-limited sections.

CompliCAted. (thanks for the explanation)

Any chance we can convince you to run for public office sometime?

Why does Congress make laws that expire?

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