He woke up content.

Smith and the other members of the Utah Sheriff's Association agree the highly politicized, 10-year-old ban on 19 assault weapons had little to no effect on crime rates. And they are glad the ban faded away at the stroke of midnight.

"If a criminal wants to get a gun, it is just too easy to get," said Smith, the sheriff's association president. "A ban on certain weapons just doesn't work."

But the stance taken by Utah's sheriffs during their August meeting conflicts with the opinion of some major players in the law enforcement community, including the National Association of Police Organizations, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and Major City Chiefs.

Salt Lake City's top cop also supported the ban.

"I have concerns with assault weapons," Police Chief Rick Dinse has said.

Dinse, who is on the board of directors of the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah, believes the ban helped maintain public safety.

"We are always concerned about the availability of weapons in the wrong hands," said Dinse's spokesman, Detective Dwayne Baird. "Anytime bad guys have access to powerful weapons like that, there is the potential for a lot of problems."

Gun control advocates blame politics for the sheriffs' break with some law enforcement agencies.

"They're elected officials. This is a Republican state. And it's an election year," said Marla Kennedy, director of the Gun Violence Prevention Center. "I do understand the political nuances."

But politics aside, just about everyone agrees the assault weapons ban did little to stop gun dealers from selling similar weapons.

"The manufacturers got smart and made cosmetic changes to the firearms," said Matt Harris, interim resident agent in charge of the Utah office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The ban, which went into effect Sept. 13, 1994, as part of the Brady Bill, outlawed semiautomatic rifles with specific features. Gun manufactures circumvented the ban by making the butt of the gun stiff instead of collapsible, changing the grip and taking off the ability to add a bayonet, among other things.

"It has had no effect on the supply, only on the price," said Matt DeLong, an avid marksman and a National Rifle Association training counselor in Utah.

DeLong - who doesn't own an assault weapon but is thinking of buying one to use in marksmanship tournaments - says the highly charged debate has had more to do with flexing political muscle than public safety. "Sarah Brady won the round 10 years ago and the NRA won this round, but it really has no effect on anybody," DeLong said. "It is all about who has political power, that is the sad part."

Kennedy acknowledges loopholes and gaps in the ban. But, she says, it was a start. About 30,000 Americans are killed by guns every year.

"We have a problem with gun deaths in this country. And what we just did was arm us better," Kennedy said. "You will never get me to concede that the general public needs assault weapons."

Statistics on assault weapons involved in crimes are hard to come by. ATF spokesman Tom Mangan says the federal agency doesn't generally track assault weapon numbers. But the Violence Policy Center, which supported the ban, says police tracked 124 assault weapons to Utah crime scenes from 1995 to 2000.

And Kennedy quotes statistics from the Violence Policy Center that show one in five police officers killed in the line of duty between 1998 and 2001 was shot with an assault weapon. That's why 1,400 police chiefs and sheriffs from 35 states support renewing the ban, she said.

The policy center highlights the assault on West Valley City Detective Robert Idle.

Idle pulled over Jason Evans, 21, on Aug. 15, 1997, for improper vehicle registration and an open liquor bottle when Evans decided he would go out shooting instead of returning to jail to face a kidnapping charge. Evans jumped out of the car with an SKS assault rifle and shot Idle seven times, including once in the head. Idle stopped breathing three times before paramedics arrived, but ultimately survived and is back on the job. Evans was convicted and sent to prison for life.

Democrats in Congress and presidential candidate John Kerry have railed at Republicans in the House and Senate and President Bush for letting legislation that would renew and strengthen the ban languish in the House Judiciary Committee for more than a year and a half.

Meantime, the NRA has refused to endorse candidates until after the ban expires.

Kennedy says the political motivation for letting the ban lapse is blatant. She says Utah's congressional delegation - including U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, former Utah Shooting Sports Council lobbyist - has been sitting on its hands.

But Congressman Jim Matheson, who joined the NRA this year, says members of Congress have legitimate questions about the effectiveness of the ban. He disputes the idea that election-year politicking is driving the gun debate.

"On one level, everything back here is about politics," Matheson said. "But I do think people have looked at this issue. There are other ways to look at stopping crimes committed with guns."

mcanham@sltrib.com

walsh@sltrib.com