[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 93 (Thursday, June 8, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8052-S8053]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           AMMUNITION CONTROL

 Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, as some Senators may know, I had 
intended to offer an amendment to the antiterrorism legislation to 
update the existing statute prohibiting the manufacture, sale, and 
importation of armor-piercing ammunition. My amendment would have 
simply revised current law to cover new projectiles capable of 
penetrating the soft body armor worn by most law enforcement officers. 
However, as part of the agreement negotiated by the managers to permit 
completion of the bill yesterday, all amendments relating to firearms 
were dropped.
  Senator Bradley and I planned to offer a separate amendment requiring 
development by the Department of the Treasury of uniform standards for 
the testing of armor-piercing ammunition. This is an important effort 
which I fully support, and I regret that we were not able to offer this 
amendment.
  Unfortunately, the amendment by the Senator from New Jersey failed to 
address the more immediate danger presented by the presence today in 
stores nationwide of certain bullets capable of penetrating police body 
armor. I learned of this ammunition only last week from the FBI. It 
obviously poses a serious threat to law enforcement.
  It has been well over a decade since I first introduced legislation 
to eliminate the armor-piercing bullets. I first became aware of 
problem in 1982, and with the help of the Patrolman's Benevolent 
Association of New York City, as well as other law enforcement groups, 
helped secure enactment in 1986 of the original statute banning so-
called cop-killer bullets. In 1993, I secured passage of a provision in 
the crime bill, which became law in September 1994, to include in the 
definition of armor-piercing ammunition the Swedish-made M39B round. 
When I learned last week that other armor-piercing rounds exist which 
elude the ban, I immediately began work on an amendment to update the 
statute once again.
  Unfortunately, I was not in a position to offer this amendment to S. 
735. As I have said, amendments on this subject were not permitted 
under the unanimous consent agreement. Even if 
[[Page S8053]] such amendments had been permitted, however, we could 
not have proceeded without the cooperation of the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. I had 
gone to some lengths to solicit support for this amendment from both 
the FBI and the BATF. I had sought to draft language that would ban the 
new armor-piercing rounds without affecting nonarmor-piercing or other 
legitimate sporting rounds that pose no threat to law enforcement. 
Despite repeated inquiries to the FBI and BATF, however, I had no 
response. The administration took the position on Monday that all 
amendments should be resisted, and that was that.
  Mr. President, I regret that we were unable to proceed on the 
antiterrorism bill with my amendment to update the ban on armor-
piercing ammunition. It is of great importance to the Nation's law 
enforcement officers. I hope we will be able to more forward on this 
matter in the near future.


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