Gixerman1000
Member
http://www.dailylocal.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12390404&BRD=1671&PAG=461&dept_id=17782&rfi=6
The federal law that prohibits the manufacture, sale and possession of semiautomatic assault weapons will expire Sept. 13 unless Congress and President Bush renew the ban.
However, the U.S. House of Representatives has yet to act on a bill to do so, and Congress will recess Friday until after Labor Day.
"I think it’s something to consider," said U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach, R-6th, of West Pikeland. "I want to see what a final bill would look like."
One House bill would provide a straight 10-year extension of the assault weapons ban. Another measure has been introduced that would outlaw more firearms, said Gerlach.
He added that Congress could vote on the bill when lawmakers return to Washington, D.C., in September.
"Law enforcement feels it’s been effective," said Gerlach, "so that’s good feedback to have."
Last week, the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association passed a resolution to encourage Congress to renew the 10-year assault weapons ban that President Clinton signed into law.
East Pikeland Police Chief James Franciscus, who serves as Chester County Police Chiefs Association financial secretary, supports extending the ban.
"If the ban is lifted, people will be able to purchase fully automatic weapons, and they will be able to use those automatic weapons," he said. "It could jeopardize the lives of the public or police officers or others."
Easttown Police Chief Thomas Armstrong, who said the statewide police chiefs’ resolution to support continuing the ban was decided by a close vote, also favors its renewal.
"They’re not hunting weapons," he said. "They’re for one purpose and one purpose alone, and that’s to kill people."
According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the 19 guns covered by the Assault Weapons Act are semiautomatic versions of fully automatic guns designed for military use. Military features of these weapons enhance their capacity to shoot multiple targets rapidly, said the Washington, D.C.-based organization, allowing shooters to fire 20 to more than 100 rounds without reloading.
"We never really had a problem here in Chester County," said Franciscus, who has been a county law enforcement officer for 29 years. "But that doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be."
Armstrong, who said local police officers occasionally encounter armed individuals, agreed. "I don’t think there’s any reason that the general public needs that type of weapon," he said.
A November NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll indicated that 78 percent of adults who were surveyed nationwide said the ban should be renewed.
"We feel, along with 80 percent of the public, the weapons have no place in America’s communities," said Eric Howard, a Brady Campaign spokesman. "You end up spraying dozens of bullets back and forth indiscriminately. We’ve just seen so many tragic consequences of that over the years."
In 1984, the Brady Campaign said, a man used an UZI assault pistol and a shotgun to kill 21 people and wound 19 others at a San Ysidro, Calif., McDonald’s.
At the 1993 Branch-Davidian standoff in Waco, Texas, the organization said, four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives special agents were killed and 16 others were wounded with an arsenal of more than 170 assault weapons. According to a federal affidavit, the weapons were purchased legally from gun dealers and at gun shows.
However, since the 1994 ban, said Howard, the number of semiautomatic weapons that have been traced to crime has decreased by 66 percent.
In March, a vote in the U.S. Senate to extend the ban received bipartisan support. The measure, however, was an amendment to a failed bill that would have granted the gun industry immunity from civil action.
As a presidential candidate in 2000, Bush pledged to renew the law. However, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., wrote the president a letter in March urging him to end his silence on the issue.
"We haven’t had the leadership on this from the president or Congress," said Howard. "The NRA is holding their endorsement on the president until Sept. 14, the day after the ban expires."
Asked if Congress was delaying a vote to appease gun lobbyists, Gerlach said, "Some people don’t want to see the ban renewed because they don’t think it does anything to stop crime."
Howard added that an al-Qaida training manual found in Afghanistan encouraged terrorists to take advantage of America’s weak gun laws.
"There’s a very unfortunate, but intimate, connection between assault weapons in the United States and terrorists," said Howard.
Terrorists can go to gun shows and purchase assault weapons that were manufactured before 1994 in states that do not require background checks, he said.
The Assault Weapons Act specifically exempts 661 sporting rifles and shotguns traditionally used for hunting.
Lobbyists with the National Rifle Association and some of its members have attacked the assault weapons legislation as being too vague and lacking enforcement.
"I have no support for someone having a true assault weapon because it has no useful purpose in hunting," said Craig Hacker, a Willistown hunter. "I think it needs to be better defined so it does not interfere with law-abiding hunters."
Hacker, a member of the National Rifle Association and of Suburban Deer Management Association, said the definition of banned weapons includes firearms that are used by sportsmen. "Making laws is not going to keep these guns out of the hands of criminals," he said.
Clem Rost of Delaware County, a member of Treetop Sportsmen, also opposes the ban. He said the ban "outlaws guns on cosmetic features."
In addition, he said, some of the banned weapons are used in government-sponsored rifle competitions.
"They are a minuscule portion of guns that are actually used in crime," Rost said. "They are very, very difficult, if not impossible, to own."
Repeated calls to U.S. Reps. Joseph R. Pitts, R-16th, of East Marlborough, and Curt Weldon, R-7th, of Thornbury, Delaware County, seeking comment on the legislation, were not returned. Weldon, who supported the original ban, was the only one of Chester County’s three representatives who was in office when the Federal Assault Weapons Act was passed in 1994.
The federal law that prohibits the manufacture, sale and possession of semiautomatic assault weapons will expire Sept. 13 unless Congress and President Bush renew the ban.
However, the U.S. House of Representatives has yet to act on a bill to do so, and Congress will recess Friday until after Labor Day.
"I think it’s something to consider," said U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach, R-6th, of West Pikeland. "I want to see what a final bill would look like."
One House bill would provide a straight 10-year extension of the assault weapons ban. Another measure has been introduced that would outlaw more firearms, said Gerlach.
He added that Congress could vote on the bill when lawmakers return to Washington, D.C., in September.
"Law enforcement feels it’s been effective," said Gerlach, "so that’s good feedback to have."
Last week, the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association passed a resolution to encourage Congress to renew the 10-year assault weapons ban that President Clinton signed into law.
East Pikeland Police Chief James Franciscus, who serves as Chester County Police Chiefs Association financial secretary, supports extending the ban.
"If the ban is lifted, people will be able to purchase fully automatic weapons, and they will be able to use those automatic weapons," he said. "It could jeopardize the lives of the public or police officers or others."
Easttown Police Chief Thomas Armstrong, who said the statewide police chiefs’ resolution to support continuing the ban was decided by a close vote, also favors its renewal.
"They’re not hunting weapons," he said. "They’re for one purpose and one purpose alone, and that’s to kill people."
According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the 19 guns covered by the Assault Weapons Act are semiautomatic versions of fully automatic guns designed for military use. Military features of these weapons enhance their capacity to shoot multiple targets rapidly, said the Washington, D.C.-based organization, allowing shooters to fire 20 to more than 100 rounds without reloading.
"We never really had a problem here in Chester County," said Franciscus, who has been a county law enforcement officer for 29 years. "But that doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be."
Armstrong, who said local police officers occasionally encounter armed individuals, agreed. "I don’t think there’s any reason that the general public needs that type of weapon," he said.
A November NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll indicated that 78 percent of adults who were surveyed nationwide said the ban should be renewed.
"We feel, along with 80 percent of the public, the weapons have no place in America’s communities," said Eric Howard, a Brady Campaign spokesman. "You end up spraying dozens of bullets back and forth indiscriminately. We’ve just seen so many tragic consequences of that over the years."
In 1984, the Brady Campaign said, a man used an UZI assault pistol and a shotgun to kill 21 people and wound 19 others at a San Ysidro, Calif., McDonald’s.
At the 1993 Branch-Davidian standoff in Waco, Texas, the organization said, four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives special agents were killed and 16 others were wounded with an arsenal of more than 170 assault weapons. According to a federal affidavit, the weapons were purchased legally from gun dealers and at gun shows.
However, since the 1994 ban, said Howard, the number of semiautomatic weapons that have been traced to crime has decreased by 66 percent.
In March, a vote in the U.S. Senate to extend the ban received bipartisan support. The measure, however, was an amendment to a failed bill that would have granted the gun industry immunity from civil action.
As a presidential candidate in 2000, Bush pledged to renew the law. However, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., wrote the president a letter in March urging him to end his silence on the issue.
"We haven’t had the leadership on this from the president or Congress," said Howard. "The NRA is holding their endorsement on the president until Sept. 14, the day after the ban expires."
Asked if Congress was delaying a vote to appease gun lobbyists, Gerlach said, "Some people don’t want to see the ban renewed because they don’t think it does anything to stop crime."
Howard added that an al-Qaida training manual found in Afghanistan encouraged terrorists to take advantage of America’s weak gun laws.
"There’s a very unfortunate, but intimate, connection between assault weapons in the United States and terrorists," said Howard.
Terrorists can go to gun shows and purchase assault weapons that were manufactured before 1994 in states that do not require background checks, he said.
The Assault Weapons Act specifically exempts 661 sporting rifles and shotguns traditionally used for hunting.
Lobbyists with the National Rifle Association and some of its members have attacked the assault weapons legislation as being too vague and lacking enforcement.
"I have no support for someone having a true assault weapon because it has no useful purpose in hunting," said Craig Hacker, a Willistown hunter. "I think it needs to be better defined so it does not interfere with law-abiding hunters."
Hacker, a member of the National Rifle Association and of Suburban Deer Management Association, said the definition of banned weapons includes firearms that are used by sportsmen. "Making laws is not going to keep these guns out of the hands of criminals," he said.
Clem Rost of Delaware County, a member of Treetop Sportsmen, also opposes the ban. He said the ban "outlaws guns on cosmetic features."
In addition, he said, some of the banned weapons are used in government-sponsored rifle competitions.
"They are a minuscule portion of guns that are actually used in crime," Rost said. "They are very, very difficult, if not impossible, to own."
Repeated calls to U.S. Reps. Joseph R. Pitts, R-16th, of East Marlborough, and Curt Weldon, R-7th, of Thornbury, Delaware County, seeking comment on the legislation, were not returned. Weldon, who supported the original ban, was the only one of Chester County’s three representatives who was in office when the Federal Assault Weapons Act was passed in 1994.
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hard to take THR when junk like that is spewed forth and not corrected or even addressed by the reporter.
Why doesn't he just say what he means... "I think it needs to be better defined so it does not interfere with me having the guns that I like to have for the sport I choose to participate in."
