[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.
____________________