For Immediate Release

President Bush must fix and continue the Assault Weapons Ban

June 8th, 2004

Published June 8th in the Prince George’s Sentinel
By Leah Barrett, CeaseFire Maryland

On September 13th, three months from now, the 1994 federal Assault Weapons Ban will expire unless Congress acts. Candidate Bush made a promise that if elected he would support renewing the law. To date, he has done nothing to make good on that promise. And without a nudge from the President, Congress won’t budge, either. Mr. Bush, what’s so compassionate about an AK-47?

Why should we be concerned about civilian assault weapons? Because they are killing machines for human beings. We are talking about semi-automatic firearms with military features, namely, the ability to accept a high-capacity ammunition magazine, a forward grip or barrel shroud and a pistol grip or thumbhole stock. Together, these features allow for rapid and accurate spray firing. On top of their lethality, these guns look mean. That’s why they are favored by drug-dealers, mass murderers and other criminals committed to terrorizing and killing their victims.

Let’s be clear. A ban on semi-automatic assault weapons isn’t the same as a ban on semi-automatic rifles. Most semi-automatic rifles are not designed with military features to allow quick and accurate spray firing. The gun industry argument that assault weapons are “technically” no different than other semi-automatic guns used for hunting is a lie. A majority of gun owners and sportsmen agrees. In a 2003 survey, 67 percent of Field & Stream readers said they do not consider assault weapons to be legitimate sporting guns. Using an assault weapon to hunt is like using dynamite to fish. No rational person would do it.

Since the law went into effect, gun manufacturers have evaded it by making small, cosmetic changes to their assault weapons – either by removing a military feature without compromising the gun’s ability to quickly spray large amounts of ammunition, or by replacing suspect components with substitutes not named under federal law (but which serve similar or related functions). For example, pistol grips were sometimes swapped for thumbhole stocks, and flash suppressors were replaced with muzzle brakes or muzzle compensators.

The trade magazine, Gun World, reports: “…the Kalashnikov [AK-47], in various guises, has flourished. Today there are probably more models, accessories and parts to choose from than ever before.” These copycat AK-47s go by names such as the MAK-90 and the VEPR II. AR-15 copycats are called the Bushmaster XM 15 and the Colt Match Target, to name just a few. So regardless of the name of the assault weapon, the weapons targeted by the 1994 law are still being manufactured today, are readily available and are being used in crime.

Maryland crime gun tracing data, provided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), reveals that criminals have switched from the named banned guns in the 1994 law to their copycats. From 1989-1994, 340 out of 516 assault weapons traces, or 66%, were for named assault weapons such as the AK-47, UZI, AR15, etc., weapons banned by name in the 1994 law. Just 176 traces or 34% were for ‘copycat’ assault weapons, those not expressly banned in the 1994 law, but functionally identical to banned weapons.

The same tracing data during the post-ban years 1995 - 2001 reveals the exact opposite. 66% of the traces were for ‘copycat’ and other assault weapons not banned by the 1994 law and 34% were for named banned weapons. Maryland law enforcement agencies have incurred a 67% INCREASE in the seizure of non-banned assault weapons since 1994.

Assault weapons make up less than 5% of all guns in the civilian population. But they are used in a disproportionate number of cop killings. Even police officers wearing “bulletproof” vests are vulnerable because the blunt trauma from bullets fired from an assault weapon is so severe as to be lethal in most cases. According to FBI data, at least one in five law enforcement officers slain in the line of duty between 1998 and 2001 was killed with an assault weapon (“Officer Down” – Assault Weapons and the War on Law Enforcement, Violence Policy Center, May 2003). Furthermore, of the 49 officers killed by rifles during the same period, 38 (78%) were killed by assault rifles.

Over 50 Maryland police chiefs support not only renewing but strengthening the 1994 law (CeaseFire Maryland survey, May 2004). It is disturbing that some Republicans, Governor Ehrlich among them, would not want to continue the ban on a class of weapons that every major law enforcement organization in the country wants banned. Aren’t Republicans known as the party of law and order?

Two bill currently before Congress would close the loopholes in the federal Assault Weapons Ban that enabled gun makers to evade the law and manufacture and sell assault weapons with almost no break. CeaseFire Maryland and a majority of Free Staters and Americans support enactment of a strong and effective Assault Weapons Ban, just as Candidate Bush did four years ago.

Tough gun laws are effective and reduce crime. The 1994 Maryland assault pistol ban resulted in a 55% drop in recoveries of assault pistols by the Baltimore City Police Department during the first six months of the ban. The 1988 Saturday Night Special handgun ban resulted in a 9% decline in firearm homicides in Maryland between 1990-1998.

We are not optimistic that this Congress will act to strengthen and renew the 1994 federal ban. Instead, progress must happen at the state level. That is why CeaseFire Maryland tried to pass an assault rifles ban in the 2004 General Assembly. It would have closed an important gap in our 1994 assault pistols ban. One Senator, John A. Giannetti, Jr. (D- Dist 21), kept the bill from reaching the Senate floor. We will back again next year to enact a full ban on assault weapons in Maryland. To do anything less would be to abdicate our responsibility as a civil society.