[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 53 (Thursday, May 5, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 5, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
            ASSAULT WEAPONS--THE MACHO SYMBOL OF LAWLESSNESS

  (Mr. DERRICK asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DERRICK. Mr. Speaker, last Thursday in Easley, SC, staff at a 
local bank reported a man for suspicious behavior. As police officers 
approached the man, he reached into a bag for a 9mm pistol, whereupon 
an officer shot him.
  In the man's nearby car police found a loaded AK-47 assault rifle 
with extra magazines of ammunition. One officer said, ``I doubt he was 
going deer hunting.''
  Whether the man intended to rob the bank, or was merely dangerously 
insane, one thing is clear: He knew what kind of tools he needed.
  Think of AK-47's or TEC-9's and you think of criminals. You think of 
violence, drive-by shootings, random murder, destruction.
  These weapons are the macho symbol of lawlessness. More and more the 
lawless employ them. It is clear what place these weapons have in our 
society: It is a place of self-destruction.
  Vote to ban these tools of anarchy. If we do not, we enshrine this 
violence in our culture.

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