National Public Radio (NPR)
SHOW: Morning Edition (10:00 AM ET) - NPR
March 11, 2004 Thursday
LENGTH: 987 words
HEADLINE: Assault weapons ban due to expire in September
ANCHORS: BOB EDWARDS
REPORTERS: LARRY ABRAMSON
BODY: BOB EDWARDS, host:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Bob Edwards.
Gun control advocates won a big victory last week, but it didn't last long. They passed a Senate amendment that would have extended the assault weapons ban. Gun control opponents were so upset that they killed the entire package of legislation. The ban is due to expire in September, and gun control supporters are making its renewal a do-or-die issue. NPR's Larry Abramson reports that people on both sides agree the ban has not worked as intended.
LARRY ABRAMSON reporting:
The Violence Policy Center is one of the more aggressive gun groups in Washington, DC, and analyst Tom Diaz is their assault weapons guy. It's his job to emphasize just how deadly these guns are. So how does he feel about the effort to renew the assault weapons ban?
Mr. TOM DIAZ (Violence Policy Center): If the existing assault weapons ban expires, I personally do not believe it will make one whit of difference one way or another in terms of our objective, which is reducing death and injury and getting a particularly lethal class of firearms off the streets. So if it doesn't pass, it doesn't pass. (Soundbite of car doors closing)
ABRAMSON: To explain why, we have to travel. The District of Columbia's law against assault weapons is even stricter than the federal government's. Virginia's is more friendly, so the Violence Policy Center keeps its samples at a house on the other side of the Potomac.
Mr. DIAZ: Hi, Amy.
(Soundbite of door closing)
ABRAMSON: Diaz knocks on the door of a house in Arlington, Virginia, a suburb of Washington. This is where he keeps a small collection of assault-style weapons.
(Soundbite of gun case opening)
ABRAMSON: Diaz opens a gun case and pulls out a Bushmaster XM-15.
Mr. DIAZ: So this is the model that the Washington snipers used. They can be used, as the snipers did, for precision firing.