[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 41 (Friday, March 22, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H2669-H2670]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        THE ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN

  (Mr. BROWN of California asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BROWN of California. Mr. Speaker I do not profess to be an expert 
on the issue of the assault weapons ban. But I have heard from two 
people I would consider experts on the issue: Samuel Scott, chief of 
police in Fontana, CA and Dennis Hegwood, chief of police in Rialto, 
CA--both cities in my district. They are both against any effort to 
repeal the assault weapons ban.
  Even without the support of police chiefs and other national police 
organizations, recently released statistics prove why we should 
maintain the assault weapons ban.
  During the late 1980's assault weapons accounted for about 8 to 10 
percent of all guns traced by law enforcement, even though assault 
weapons accounted for only about 1 percent of the guns in private 
hands. However, the number of assault weapons traces initiated in the 
first 8 months of 1995, 1 year after the ban's enactment, fell for the 
first time in recent years from prior

[[Page H2670]]

year's level. There were 510 fewer assault weapons traced to crime in 
the first 8 months of 1995 than were traced during the same period in 
1994--an 18-percent reduction over a 1-year period.
  I seem to recall that my Republican friends across the aisle want to 
base every judgment about Government programs and agencies on 
statistical data. Well, the statistical data proves that this is an 
effective law.
  I also seem to recall that my Republican friends across the aisle 
like to think they are members of the law-and-order party. Well, law 
and order from coast to coast favors maintaining the assault weapons 
ban.
  It is time that Republicans live by the standards they impose on 
themselves and maintain the assault weapons ban.

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