[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 43 (Tuesday, April 19, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 19, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
           A SECOND UPDATE ON MILITARY-STYLE ASSAULT WEAPONS

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise to give an update on military-
style assault weapons and their use in the United States.
  Last November, the U.S. Senate considered and passed by a vote of 56 
to 43 legislation to ban the sale, possession, and future manufacture 
of 19 semiautomatic assault weapons and their copycat versions.
  On February 24, I provided the Senate with the first of a series of 
updates on shootings and other incidents across America since the 
Senate began consideration of this legislation. I rise today to provide 
the second update.
  Despite the NRA's contention that assault weapons constitute but a 
fraction of the 15,377 gun murders in 1992--per FBI Uniform Crime 
Reports--the fact is that a steady stream of assault weapons are 
available to the drug dealers, grievance killers, cop killers, and 
drive-by shooters--many of them youngsters--who terrorize our 
communities.
  The fact is that, today, virtually anyone can obtain a weapon that 
was designed for military purposes--to kill large numbers of people in 
close combat. A weapon which often can be easily concealed, and which 
can pump out 30 bullets in just a few seconds.
  Every week brings with it incidents in which innocent people are 
mowed down--in offices, restaurants, bars, trains, tax offices, 
shopping malls, schools, parks, markets, and even in their own homes.
  No place is safe from these weapons of war and those who use them.
  Officer Christy Lynn Hamilton, a rookie on the Los Angeles police 
force just 4 days out of the academy, was not safe from an assault 
rifle in February as she crouched, fully armed with pistol drawn and 
bullet proof vest in place: behind the door of her squad car, after 
responding to a domestic disturbance report in a residential 
neighborhood.
  A bullet from an AR-15, a high velocity slug more than one-half inch 
in length, pierced the car door, slipped past her vest--which would 
not, in any event, have stopped it--and lodged in her chest. She died 
an hour later.
  Officer Hamilton thus joined the ranks of the 490 police men and 
women slain since 1986, 50 of whom are estimated to have been killed by 
assault weapons--50 police officers across this Nation.
  The unrestricted availability and indiscriminate circulation of these 
weapons are causing police across America to be routinely outgunned. 
That is one of the reasons that virtually every major police 
organization in the Nation strongly supported the assault weapons title 
of the Senate crime bill, which is presently before the House of 
Representatives.
  Since late October, as far as we can tell, at least 35 people have 
been killed, and 41 wounded by assault weapons in the United States of 
America. On this map, in red and black, are assault weapon shootings 
that have taken place since the Senate prepared to take up its crime 
bill in late October.
  There are 10 AK-47 symbols in red, each representing an assault 
weapon shooting or assault that has occurred since my first report to 
the Senate just 7 weeks ago.
  Let me review some of these, and a number of other, episodes--culled 
from newspapers in computer databases that do not cover the Nation--all 
of which have occurred since February 24, the date of my last update. 
They make one thing alarmingly clear. No place is safe from assault 
weapons, Mr. President. No longer are these incidents isolated to only 
the ``rough parts of town.''
  Gunfire from semiautomatic assault weapons is becoming more and more 
common everywhere--outside shopping centers and movie theaters, in 
front of schools in suburban communities, on subway platforms in broad 
daylight.
  From Indiana to Connecticut, from Texas to Louisiana, from Oklahoma 
to Ohio, from Arizona to Virginia, assault weapons attacks are 
occurring without warning and with increasing frequency.
  Consider these examples from just the last 7 weeks:
  Outside a music store in Venice, CA, on April 11, gunfire from an AK-
47 critically wounded one man and hit another in a drive-by shooting. 
The same vehicle and assailants moments before riddled another car with 
10 rounds, wounding four people.
  At a nightclub in Anaheim, on April 6, six young people were wounded 
when an unknown assailant, hidden behind a phone booth across the 
street, sprayed the club with gunfire from an AK-47. A 21-year-old 
victim was in critical condition after being shot in the stomach;
  Worshipers at a Sikh temple were threatened on April 3, in Houston, 
TX, by a deranged man demanding to know how funds from the temple were 
being spent. Luckily, as women of the congregation pleaded with him not 
to fire, several men tackled and subdued the madman;
  At a neighborhood market located less than a mile from the White 
House, four gunmen--one reportedly with a TEC-9 assault pistol--opened 
fire on March 31, killing a 15-year-old boy and wounding nine others, 
including an elderly woman and a 1-year-old girl. Police on the scene 
said it was a miracle more people in the crowded market complex were 
not shot or killed in this gang-related ``hit;''
  On a street in Centerville, TX, a 33-year veteran of the Houston 
Police Department was shot and seriously wounded on March 30 when the 
driver of a car pulled over for a routine traffic violation opened fire 
with a MAC-11 assault pistol illegally converted to fully automatic 
operation.
  This is one of the kinds of cases in which our police are really 
outgunned. They pull someone over for a routine stop; that individual 
has an assault weapon, and the officer has no chance, no chance at all 
against this kind of weapon.
  In this instance, the sergeant, shot twice, remains in critical 
condition. His assailant, a Kansas parolee on a crime spree, was shot 
dead in a gun battle with authorities the next day.
  Outside a movie theater in Pittsburg, CA, Becky Martin, 8 months 
pregnant with her second child, was shot five times as 17 bullets were 
fired at her ``4-by-4'' on March 30. Her husband and 11-year-old son 
stood 100 feet away, buying tickets for a movie. By some miracle, the 
victim's baby was delivered by Caesarean section and the victim has 
been upgraded to good condition.
  Interestingly enough, in this case, the perpetrator is believed to be 
the girlfriend of the victim's husband, and their plan was to pretend 
that this was a gang shooting. The girlfriend was to shoot the pregnant 
mother, and then spray bullets at passers-by to show that this was not 
a personal attack but in fact a random gang shooting. Fortunately, for 
other mall shoppers, that aspect of the plan was not carried out.
  On a crowded subway train station in the middle of the afternoon on 
March 25 in Berkeley, CA, five rounds from an AP-9 assault pistol were 
fired as a 19-year-old tried to settle an argument.
  Mr. President, in my day, youngsters would have an argument, and they 
would go out and settle it with their fists.
  Today, when youngsters have an argument, one goes home, gets an 
assault pistol, comes back, shoots the person he was arguing with and--
if they are standing in the wrong place at the wrong time--anyone 
around him. We cannot continue to condone this.
  A high school in Seattle provides another example. There, a young 
girl was mowed down when gunfire from a MAC-12 erupted from a passing 
automobile. Her killer was a 16-year-old private school honor student. 
And the irony in this case is that the young woman had just transferred 
to what her mother believed was a safer school.
  Unfortunately, the examples of assault weapons killings, shootings, 
and chilling near-misses from just the past 7 weeks goes on:
  Outside an apartment house last Wednesday, police in New Orleans 
arrested a 20-year-old man wanted for the February murder in cold blood 
of the 34-year-old director of the Gospel Soul Choir. The suspect, 
according to published reports, dropped a fully loaded Uzi when 
confronted by two officers. He allegedly killed the choirmaster for 
almost hitting him with his car after the suspect stepped into its 
path.
  Police had another near miss with assault weapons on the same day--
April 13--in Atlanta, when they and the FBI surprised a man on New 
Jersey's ``Ten Most Wanted'' list in the shower. Agents found a TEC-22 
Scorpion assault pistol, fully loaded with a 30-round magazine, in the 
pocket of shorts that they retrieved for him to wear. The suspect, age 
32, was wanted for beating another man to death in a drug dispute.
  Four juveniles, three 16-year-olds and a 14-year-old, were arrested 
on April 2 in Baton Rouge, LA, for a string of seven armed robberies of 
convenience stores near Louisiana State University. Police believe that 
a TEC-9 assault pistol--the same gun suspected in Washington's ``O 
Street Market'' shooting and many other incidents that I have discussed 
on the floor--was used in at least one of the robberies.
  After a high-speed chase on March 21, police recovered a fully loaded 
MAC-10 from the front seat of a car in Encino, CA.
  Two men riding in a taxi near the busy North Blount Street Market in 
Raleigh, NC, on March 20 were hit by gunfire from three assailants, one 
of whom was believed to have been using a TEC-9 assault pistol. Both 
passengers were wounded.
  As police officers in Inglewood, CA, were enforcing a new curfew to 
keep kids under 18 off the streets late at night, they approached a 
beer-drinking 17-year-old on March 19. He had with him an AK-47 assault 
rifle and, in his pocket, a full loaded 30-round ammunition clip.
  In a residential neighborhood in West Palm Beach, FL, on March 11, an 
ambush occurred in which more than a dozen rounds are believed to have 
been fired from an AK-47 and an AR-15. Meant to settle a dispute over 
the ownership of car tires, the attack left the intended victim dead 
and one by-stander wounded.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a full list of these 
events, and others be printed in the Record at the conclusion of my 
remarks.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (See exhibit 1.)
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, the point I want to make today is 
illustrated on this chart, which shows the attacks with assault weapons 
that have taken place in this Nation since the Senate prepared to 
consider the crime bill. This bill is now in the House of 
Representatives, where reasonable assault weapons restrictions are 
being heavily lobbied against by the National Rifle Association. The 
NRA will say: ``Guns do not kill, people kill.'' And, yes, there is an 
element of truth in that. But when the guns so powerful can kill so 
many so fast, when weapons meant for military purposes are routinely 
used to settle grievances, to shoot innocent civilians, and to kill 
police officers, the time has come, I believe, to do something about 
those weapons and to outlaw their future production in the United 
States.
  Thank you, Mr. President, I yield the floor.

                               Exhibit 1

                                            ASSAULT WEAPON INCIDENTS                                            
                                                [Partial listing]                                               
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
       Date              Location                Gun(s)\1\                            Incident                  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oct. 25, 1993....  Indianapolis, IN....  AK-47...................  Retaliatory gang shooting kills teen 50-shot 
                                                                    fusillade and wounds 7 year-old watching TV 
                                                                    at home.                                    
Oct. 26, 1993....  Waterbury, CT.......  TEC-9...................  Botched drive-by shooting leads to 10 mile   
                                                                    high-speed police chase.                    
Oct. 27, 1993....  Paterson, NJ........  ........................  TEC-9 assault pistol pointed at school       
                                                                    principal's head as gunmen race through     
                                                                    elementary school; none injured.            
Oct. 28, 1993....  Paterson, NJ........  TEC-9...................  17 year-old and 21 year-old killed by 19 year-
                                                                    old rooftop sniper firing into group of men 
                                                                    on sidewalk below.                          
Oct. 30, 1993....  El Cajon, CA........  AR-15...................  ``Child-hating'' sniper kills woman and 9    
                                                                    year-old child in parking lot; wounds 5     
                                                                    others.                                     
Nov. 1, 1993.....  Newbury, NH.........  1927A-1.................  Grievance killer slays 2 and wounds a third  
                                                                    in attack on tax collector's office with    
                                                                    ``Tommy'' gun replica.                      
Nov. 1, 1993.....  Houston, TX.........  AK-47...................  Teenage boy killed at Halloween party by     
                                                                    rival gang members.                         
Nov. 22, 1993....  Baltimore, MD.......  AK-47...................  13 year-old boy killed by one of a dozen     
                                                                    bullets fired into public housing project by
                                                                    17 year-old gunman; rifle found by police   
                                                                    loaded with 61 shells.                      
Nov. 23, 1993....  New Orleans, LA.....  AK-47, MAC-11...........  Jealous husband kills 4 month-old twin girls 
                                                                    in crib, 8 year-old sister, and their mother
                                                                    before wounding children's 10 year-old      
                                                                    brother in the head and committing suicide. 
Dec. 11, 1993....  Mechanicsville, MD..  MAC-11..................  16-year-old held in shooting death of younger
                                                                    brother in possible accident; gun, stolen   
                                                                    from neighbor's house, found with 30 round  
                                                                    clip.                                       
Dec. 13, 1993....  Chicago, IL.........  AK-47...................  16 year-old basketball player murdered       
                                                                    outside supermarket; 17 year-old arrested   
                                                                    and charged.                                
Dec. 17, 1993....  Hugo, OK............  MAK-90..................  Two killed and 3 wounded in Wal-Mart parking 
                                                                    lot attack with AK-47 rifle variation.      
Dec. 30, 1993....  De Kalb County, GA..  MAC-11..................  A 13 year-old girl intentionally wounds her  
                                                                    step-grandmother with two shots to the      
                                                                    abdomen.                                    
Jan. 23, 1994....  St. Paul, MN........  AK-47...................  17 year-old kills another teen in dispute    
                                                                    over stolen stereo.                         
Jan. 29, 1994....  Buffalo, NY.........  AK-47...................  A 16 year-old and his 14 year-old accomplice 
                                                                    commit carjacking.                          
Jan. 31, 1994....  Seattle, WA.........  AR-15...................  Teacher killed in early morning ambush on    
                                                                    middle school grounds.                      
Feb. 1, 1994.....  Clifton, NJ.........  ........................  37 weapons seized from residence along with  
                                                                    10,000 rounds of ammunition and 5 explosive 
                                                                    devices.                                    
Feb. 3, 1994.....  Chicago, IL.........  ........................  Three men, all sons of police officers,      
                                                                    arrested for conspiracy to commit murder and
                                                                    drug dealing; 29 stolen weapons seized,     
                                                                    including AR-15, TEC-9, SKS, and M-11.      
Feb. 4-5, 1994...  Lincoln, NE.........  ........................  State troopers find TEC-9 assault pistols    
                                                                    with 30 round magazines in drug-courier     
                                                                    stops on Interstate 80.                     
Feb. 7, 1994.....  Minneapolis, MN.....  ........................  Fugitive from Detroit murder investigation   
                                                                    apprehended with small arsenal, including AR-
                                                                    15.                                         
Feb. 14, 1994....  Torrance, CA........  ........................  Car and home of masked killer of 2 police    
                                                                    officers at motivational seminar yield,     
                                                                    respectively, Uzi carbine and AR-15         
                                                                    illegally modified to fire as fully-        
                                                                    automatic machine gun.                      
Feb. 21, 1994....  Winston-Salem, NC...  ........................  Police drug raid nets over $200,000 in drugs,
                                                                    $34,000 in cash and more than 10 guns       
                                                                    including, AK-47.                           
Feb. 22, 1994....  Los Angeles, CA.....  AR-15...................  Drug-abusing 17 year-old kills LAPD rookie in
                                                                    4th day on job, and his father, with gun    
                                                                    from father's collection; fatal bullet      
                                                                    passed through police car door and part of  
                                                                    officer's ``bullet-proof'' vest; officers   
                                                                    from three cars pinned down by hail of      
                                                                    bullets.                                    
Feb. 22, 1994....  Buffalo, NY.........  MAC-10..................  17-year old fatally wounded in housing       
                                                                    project hallway argument over stolen stereo 
                                                                    speakers.                                   
Feb. 24, 1994....  Youngstown, OH......  AK-47...................  Thirty year-old mother of 4, including 1 year-
                                                                    old twins, allegedly killed by her estranged
                                                                    husband.                                    
Feb. 25, 1994....  Los Angeles, CA.....  AK-47...................  7 year-old enrolled in after school          
                                                                    enrichment program accidentally killed by 9 
                                                                    year-old friend with assault rifle found    
                                                                    under bed in friend's home.                 
Feb. 27, 1994....  Palm Springs, CA....  AK-47 [suggested by       Two wounded, including a 3 year-old child, in
                                          casing/witnesses].        attack on Black History Month picnic        
                                                                    believed to be gang-related.                
Feb. 27, 1994....  Fort Worth, TX......  AR-15 or AK-47            3 killed and 1 wounded in suspected drive-by 
                                          [suggested by casing/     gang shooting by 16 and 17 year-old gunmen; 
                                          witnesses].               witnesses say more than 2 dozen rounds fired
                                                                    in less than a minute.                      
Feb. 28,, 1994...  Phoenix, AZ.........  ........................  Police called to home by boy reporting that  
                                                                    15 year-old friend had threatened to fire AK-
                                                                    47 into nearby school.                      
Mar. 1, 1994.....  New York, NY........  ........................  One man killed and another grievously wounded
                                                                    (neither expected to survive) in drive-by   
                                                                    assault on Brooklyn Bridge; attack believed 
                                                                    perpetrated with large-capacity pistols, but
                                                                    arsenal including Street Sweeper shotgun, AK-
                                                                    47, and assault pistol seized from suspect's
                                                                    home.                                       
Mar. 1, 1994.....  Buffalo, NY.........  AK-47...................  29 year-old killed by at least four shots to 
                                                                    the body in high speed car chase lasting    
                                                                    several blocks; over 30 rounds fired;       
                                                                    victim's car eventually crashed into utility
                                                                    poll as witnesses dove for cover.           
Mar. 4, 1994.....  Kerrick, MN.........  ........................  Three police officers on task force to find  
                                                                    illegal guns fired on while investigating   
                                                                    reported gunfire in housing development; 20 
                                                                    year-old gunman wounded in arm by officer   
                                                                    returning fire.                             
Mar. 11, 1994....  Wallingford, CT.....  ........................  20 guns, including AK-47, and thousands of   
                                                                    rounds, including AK-47, recovered in       
                                                                    nightclub; 40 more guns recovered from      
                                                                    owner's home.                               
Mar. 12, 1994....  New Orleans, LA.....  MAC-11, SKS.............  10 year-old boy critically wounded in neck   
                                                                    when .22 caliber pistol dropped while       
                                                                    playing went off; police on scene also      
                                                                    confiscated 37 other guns, some loaded,     
                                                                    including: Mitchell AK-47, Norinco SKS, SKS 
                                                                    with folding stock and an AR-15.            
Mar. 13, 1994....  Richmond, VA........  Uzi [?].................  21 year-old passenger in car wounded while   
                                                                    riding on Interstate 95; car fired on 5     
                                                                    times by car that pulled alongside.         
Mar. 17, 1994....  San Diego, CA.......  AK-47...................  31 year-old man distraught over failed       
                                                                    relationship held police SWAT team at bay   
                                                                    with assault rifle in 11-hour stand-off     
                                                                    beginning at 4:30 a.m.; more than 100 rounds
                                                                    fired by gunman and police; one police      
                                                                    officer wounded; gunman committed suicide;  
                                                                    police evacuated more than 75 residents of  
                                                                    gunman's apartment complex.                 
Mar. 20, 1994....  Raleigh, NC.........  TEC-9 [witnesses and      Two men wounded in 8:30 p.m. attack on       
                                          casings].                 taxicab near busy North Blount St. Market.  
Mar. 21, 1994....  Encino, CA..........  ........................  Loaded MAC-10 assault pistol recovered from  
                                                                    front seat of car apprehended by police     
                                                                    after high-speed chase.                     
Mar. 19, 1994....  Inglewood, CA.......  ........................  17 year-old stopped by police in curfew      
                                                                    enforcement found with AK-47 assault rifle  
                                                                    land fully-loaded 30-round ammunition clip. 
Mar. 23, 1994....  Seattle, WA.........  MAC-12..................  16 year-old uninvolved in gangs killed in    
                                                                    drive-by shooting at high school to which   
                                                                    her mother moved her to avoid violence on   
                                                                    city's south side; gun used reportedly      
                                                                    circulated among gang for a year.           
Mar. 30, 1994....  Centerville, TX.....  MAC-11..................  33-year veteran of Houston police force      
                                                                    wounded twice in traffic stop by Kansas     
                                                                    parolee with concealed fully automatic      
                                                                    assault pistol.                             
Mar. 30, 1994....  Pittsburg, CA.......  HK-94...................  Woman eight months pregnant shot 5 times in  
                                                                    17 bullet fusillade in mall parking lot     
                                                                    reportedly orchestrated by husband and his  
                                                                    lover for insurance money; plot originally  
                                                                    called for spraying other shoppers to       
                                                                    conceal targeted nature of crime.           
Mar. 31, 1994....  Washington, DC......  TEC-9...................  15 year-old boy killed and 9 others wounded  
                                                                    in dinner hour retaliatory gang attack on   
                                                                    busy neighborhood market.                   
Apr. 3, 1994.....  Houston, TX.........  Uzi.....................  Deranged and irate member of Sikh temple     
                                                                    holds crowded worship service at gunpoint   
                                                                    demanding information on use of congregation
                                                                    funds.                                      
Apr. 6, 1994.....  Anaheim, CA.........  AK-47...................  6 wounded, one critically, in sniper attack  
                                                                    on popular teenage club.                    
Apr. 11, 1994....  Venice, CA..........  AK-47...................  Carload of men with assault rifle perpetrate 
                                                                    two gang-related drive-by shootings in 10   
                                                                    minutes. 4 wounded in hail of at least 10   
                                                                    bullets in first shooting of another        
                                                                    vehicle; 2 others wounded in drive-by       
                                                                    strafing of music store, including stage and
                                                                    screen actor Byron Keith Minns (ironically, 
                                                                    played a criminal trying to spare his son   
                                                                    from gang violence in Oliver Stone's 1992   
                                                                    feature film, ``South Central.'')           
Apr. 2, 1994.....  Baton Rouge, LA.....  ........................  Four teenagers, including a 14 year-old      
                                                                    arrested for a string of seven armed        
                                                                    robberies of convenience stores, one with a 
                                                                    TEC-9 assault pistol.                       
Apr. 13, 1994....  New Orleans, LA.....  ........................  20 year-old man, arrested for the murder of a
                                                                    choir director, armed with a fully loaded   
                                                                    Uzi when confronted by two police officers. 
Apr. 13, 1994....  Atlanta, GA.........  ........................  Police and FBI agents arrest man on New      
                                                                    Jersey's ``Ten Most Wanted'' list for       
                                                                    beating a man to death in a drug dispute.   
                                                                    Taken while in the shower, police found a   
                                                                    TEC-22 assault pistol with full 30-round    
                                                                    magazine in shorts handed to the suspect to 
                                                                    wear.                                       
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Entry in ``Gun(s)'' column indicates specified weapon used or brandished.                                    

  Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. (Ms. Moseley-Braun). Without objection, it is 
so ordered.

                          ____________________