[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 6 (Tuesday, February 1, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 1, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                              GUN CONTROL

                                 ______


                       HON. BARBARA F. VUCANOVICH

                               of nevada

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 1, 1994

  Mrs. VUCANOVICH. Mr. Speaker, I submit a copy of a letter and several 
articles submitted by my constituent Charles Sedlacek regarding gun 
control legislation.

                                      Department of Defense Police
                                      Reno, NV, December 23, 1993.
     To: Congresswoman Barbara Vucanovich, U.S. House of 
         Representatives, Washington, DC.
       Dear Congresswoman and Honorable Members of Congress: I 
     write this letter as a gun owner and a working law 
     enforcement officer. Along with this letter I have enclosed 
     several examples of articles and printed matter that will 
     help to clarify and define my points as a gun owner and law 
     enforcement officer.
       As Members return from recess and attempt to refine the 
     crime bill once again gun control is a primary focus. From my 
     experiences and those of my father, a Chicago policeman for 
     over 25 years, I can tell you it is not working and cannot 
     work until more serious flaws in policies of parole and 
     sentencing are worked out. The prisons across the country are 
     overflowing and violent repeat offender are being let out at 
     alarming rates. Once out, they continue to commit crimes and 
     are again run through the system, overloading the courts, 
     wasting taxpayer money and inflicting pain and mayhem on 
     those who they prey on. It is useless to try and pass more 
     useless gun and ammunition taxes and prohibitions until the 
     problems of sentencing and parole are straightened out.
       The second focus of this letter concerns gun laws 
     themselves. On December 23 of this year the USA Today ran a 
     story on the Brady bill and it's effect on gun sales. They 
     pointed out that since the bill has been passed gun purchases 
     by lawful citizens have skyrocketed. This is because people 
     themselves know this law will do nothing to protect them. 
     Sponsors of the bill themselves acknowledged this and still 
     the law was passed. . . Why???
       It is, gentlemen and ladies, because criminals will not pay 
     for something they can make and get for free. Military and 
     high-quality armor-piercing ammunition are available to the 
     felon easily from underground and illegal sources. In 
     Tennessee a felon loaded his shotgun shells with dimes to 
     produce a deadlier impact on close range. Many times those 
     who are short on money but with lots of time make their own 
     weapons, more deadlier and concealable than those purchased 
     by honest citizens. I have seen cigarette lighters converted 
     to .22 caliber guns, and something as simple and as common as 
     a length of pipe converted into a .12 gauge shotgun. As a 
     young boy my policeman father took me to police ranges and 
     allowed me to look at piles of confiscated weapons taken 
     during raids and arrests. Guns converted from children's toys 
     were on display, reworked to fire bullets instead of caps. 
     Sadly, I also viewed weapons taken from officers who were 
     brutally murdered with their own revolvers, used then again 
     by career offenders to continue their pursuit of crime.
       The third and final part of this letter concerns those guns 
     in the hands of honest citizens and the consequences upon 
     those people when laws that are passed are not carefully 
     thought out. Recently the response time of our local police 
     was rated at between 18-24 minutes. Try as they might, the 
     determining factor of police response is budgets. If there 
     are not sufficient funds officers cannot be hired. The 
     response time increases and citizens are left to, 
     unfortunately, fend for themselves until help arrives. Does 
     it really matter what he chooses, be it a revolver, semi-auto 
     with a ``pisol-grip'', or a rifle with a piece of metal on 
     the end to fit a bayonet? Like it or not, millions of these 
     so called assault weapons are in the lands of citizens across 
     the country. The law in California passed years ago, banning 
     certain types and calling for the registration of others, did 
     not work. It was, in the words of the California attorney 
     General, ``A miserable failure'', and ``unworkable''. Out of 
     a total of over 350,000 estimated weapons in that state, 
     roughly 7500-8000 have been registered, leaving a new class 
     of criminal in that state numbering over 270,000.
       The focus needs to be directed at keeping those who wish to 
     engage in arnachy, murder, and mayhem behind bars, for life 
     if necessary. If that is not done there will always be a 
     demand for guns, no matter what type. If further restrictions 
     on guns are proposed and reform of parole and sentencing is 
     not addressed people will further look to guns and other 
     means of protection as necessary, not feeling it necessary to 
     ask permission from the police and courts to protect them.
       Thank you.
                                            Officer C.J. Sedlacek.

                           The Armed Citizen

       Connie Crowe was roused to action one evening when she 
     heard sounds of a struggle and screams coming from her 
     upstairs neighbor's Franklin, Tennessee, apartment. Crowe 
     grabbed a revolver given to her by her father and went into 
     the hall where she confronted an intruder. When he came 
     rushing down the steps, Crowe ordered him to stop, and, when 
     he didn't, shot and wounded him. ``I thought `he's not 
     getting out of here if my neighbor's up there dead,'' Crowe 
     said. Police said Crowe would not be charged. The wounded man 
     faced an attempted rape charge, police said. (The Tennessean, 
     Nashville, TN, 10/6/93)
       Stalked and assaulted by a former boyfriend, Terry Jackson 
     of Albany, Georgia, feared for her life even though she had 
     sworn out arrest warrants for the man. Deciding she needed 
     more protection than the police could give her, the mother of 
     five purchased a pistol at a pawnshop. Less than 12 hours 
     later, Jackson shot and killed the man as he tried to break 
     into her home. Police arrested and charged her with murder, 
     but the district attorney ordered her release, saying ``It 
     does seem to be a clear-cut case of self-defense. If there 
     had been any question in the facts I was given, I would not 
     have acted so quickly.'' (The Herald, Albany, GA, 10/6/93)
       Picking the same house to burglarize twice in an hour 
     proved fatal for a thief in Kansas City, Missouri, Alerted to 
     the first attempt, the owner of the home, a Kansas City 
     woman, was at the house when the man tried again. Hearing a 
     noise, the woman investigated, found the man, and fired 
     several shots from her pistol, mortally wounding the 
     intruder, who turned out to be the woman's cousin, a 
     convicted burglar. (The Star, Kansas City, MO, 8/24/93)
       It was something of a comical situation. The 300-lb. 
     ``customer'' was holding a 2" knife, while the Colorado 
     Springs liquor-store clerk was holding a gun. It all started 
     when the man asked for a bottle of wine, then pulled a knife 
     instead of cash, prompting the clerk to grab one of the 
     handguns kept in the store. After a brief standoff during 
     which he put the knife away and tried to make friends, the 
     hefty would-be crook fled empty-handed. (The Gazette 
     Telegraph, Colorado Springs, CO, 8/28/93)
       ``I'm just tired of people getting away with crime,'' was 
     Jeffrey Rosenberg's assessment of why he kept a vigil over 
     his new Ford Mustang. Getting two pistols, Rosenberg, of 
     Quincy, Massachusetts, kept a six-hour watch over the car. 
     When he confronted two men checking out the car, one took a 
     swipe at him with a screwdriver, and Rosenberg drew his 
     handgun and held them at gunpoint for police. (The Sun, 
     Lowell, MA, 7/25/93)
       ``I knew I only had one thing to do, and that was to go for 
     my gun,'' said Menlo Park, California grocery-store-owner 
     John Pacheco, who was forced to shoot and kill an armed 
     robber in his store. The crook entered, pulled a pistol and 
     demanded money, prompting Pacheco to grab a .45 from under 
     the counter and fire. The dead man had a long criminal 
     history and was on parole for a firearms offense. (The 
     Chronicle, San Francisco, CA, 7/23/93)
       Emile Shermer, 82, was in his Fairhope, Alabama, home when 
     a teenager broke in and tried to rob him at knifepoint. 
     Instead of complying with the delinquent's demands for cash, 
     Shermer pulled a pistol and shot him in the arm, then held 
     him for police. (The Press Register, Baldwin, AL, 8/9/93)
       A Lexington, Kentucky, man had the competition seriously 
     outgunned and didn't hesitate to prove it. Finding a man 
     trying to break into his car in a parking lot, he ordered the 
     burglar to stop. Instead of complying, the would-be thief 
     pointed a small pistol at the car owner, who pulled his .45 
     and shot the gunman in the stomach. (The Herald-Leader, 
     Lexington, KY, 8/10/93)
       Carl Spence jumped to action upon finding a strange pickup 
     truck in his driveway and two strangers walking around his 
     Jackson, Mississippi, area home. Spence blocked the truck 
     with his car, ran into the house and called 911. He then 
     grabbed his shotgun and went back outside, where the pair was 
     trying to escape. They stopped and waited for police when 
     they saw Spense's shotgun. (The Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, MS, 
     9/11/93)
       Win Coburn of Bloomfield, Missouri, returned home to find 
     three men--wanted by a police dragnet--ransacking his 
     residence. Two of the fugitives fled, but Coburn held the 
     third at gunpoint until police collected him. His accomplices 
     were also soon captured. ``We believe these arrests may have 
     cleared up to 10 burglaries in surrounding counties,'' said 
     Stoddard County Sheriff Steve Fish. (The Daily Statesman, 
     Dexter, MO, 8/3/93)
       A 14-year-old San Francisco boy proved more than a match 
     for a gunman who, along with a man armed with a knife, forced 
     his way into the family home. The criminal ran upstairs to 
     confront and demand money from the boy's parents. Pulling his 
     own gun, the father was shot in the chest and dropped the 
     pistol as he struggled with his assailant. The boy ran 
     upstairs, grabbed the family gun and killed his father's 
     attacker. The other man fled. (The Chronicle, San Francisco, 
     CA, 9/9/93)

           Holiday Rush on Firearms--Legislation Spurs Sales

                        (By Mitchell Landsberg)

       Peggy Derheim of Robbinsdale, Minn., has been dreaming of a 
     special Christmas, one that would fill her stocking with a 
     Feather Industries AT-22 semiautomatic rifle, accessorized by 
     a 20-round magazine and ventilated barrel shroud.
       Santa has been good to her.
       Dermeim, 28, trooped off with her parents to Bill's Gun 
     Shop & Range this week to get her present early.
       They were among legions of Americans buying guns this 
     Christmas straining the capacity of firearms makers and 
     sending the prices of some weapons sky-high.
       Industry insiders attribute the ruse, beyond the usual 
     search for the perfect holiday gift, to a fear of crime and a 
     dread of gun control.
       ``It's been probably the best year the firearms industry 
     has experienced in the last 20 years,'' says Michael Saporito 
     of RSR Wholesale Guns Inc., one of the nation's largest 
     firearms distributors.
       Bob Lesmeister, manager of the National Association of 
     Federally Licensed Firearms Dealers, estimates holiday gun 
     sales will be up more than 100% over last year.
       More than a thousand customers a day have been flocking 
     into Turner's Outdoorsman in Signal Hill, Calif., a gritty 
     industry town surrounded by the city of Long Beach.
       ``I shop here all the time,'' says Tom Black, a gun 
     collector. ``Tonight, I'm looking for some last-minute 
     things.''
       Handguns have been selling briskly at Turner's this 
     December. Not among the listed specials: the Ruger 9mm 
     semiautomatic pistol like the one Turner's sold last spring 
     to Colin Ferguson, who is accused of killing six people on a 
     Long Island Rail Road commuter train in New York this month.
       Just as that tragedy aroused gun-control advocates anew, 
     passage of the 7 day waiting period and background check for 
     gun purchasers--and partial passage of an omnibus crime 
     bill--have given a big boost to the firearms industry.
       ``When they passed the crime bill, business went up 10 
     times,'' says Ed Nicely, owner of Ed's Gun Shop in Southern 
     Pines, N.C.
       Although separate versions of the crime bill have passed 
     both houses of Congress, a final bill awaits consideration 
     next month. It is expected to include a ban on some military-
     style assault weapons.
       ``I've seen firearms that 90 days ago would have sold for 
     $300 now selling for $1,200,'' Saporito says.
       Alan Marcotte of Concord, N.H., went shopping for a gun as 
     soon as Clinton signed the Brady bill. ``I wouldn't be here 
     today if the bill had not passed,'' Marcotte says as he 
     picked out a handgun at Riley's Sport Shop.
       But gun control isn't the only motivating issue. Fear of 
     crime has surged.
       ``Your ordinary citizen is starting to feel that police 
     aren't able to protect them,'' says Ed Fong, a customer at 
     the San Francisco Gun Exchange downtown.
       In Robbinsdale, a suburb of Minneapolis, business at Bill's 
     Gun Shop has been up a modest 10% this Christmas, about 50% 
     for the entire year, says owner Bill Penney.
       Among the buyers this week were the Derheims. Peggy 
     Derheim, who says she already owns an M-16 lookalike, wanted 
     something she could use for target practice and personal 
     protection. She chose the AT-22 carbine.
       The shop, more than 18,000 square feet over three levels, 
     includes a shooting range and classrooms for training. It'll 
     grow by 7,000 square feet in February.
       ``As crime grows,'' says Penney, ``so does the place.''

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