With the federal assault weapons ban sunsetting on Monday at midnight, the gun-control movement has a lot to fear, but not what most people think.

The term "assault weapon" conjures up images of the weapons used by the military, but the weapons in the ban actually function the same as any semiautomatic hunting rifle.

Despite claims that allowing the semiautomatic weapons banto end will cause a rise in gun crimes, letting the law expire shows the uselessness of gun-control regulations.

Fueled by false images of machine guns and sniper rifles, the debate next year is likely to be very emotional. Let's hope that the politicians at least learn what guns are being banned.

The death of the law has notbrought a rise in crime--just the opposite.

When the federal assault-weapons ban expired last September, its fans claimed that gun crimeswould surge.Eight months later,the only casualty has been gun-controllers' credibility.

Despite gun-control organizations finally agreeing that the semiautomatic gun ban now does not matter, too much has been made of the importance of this legislation for too many years.

Let's take a deep breath and think about what we know about gun violence and gun control.