[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 130 (Thursday, September 25, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9963-S9965]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            THE IMPORTATION OF SEMIAUTOMATIC ASSAULT RIFLES

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, about 2 weeks ago it came to my 
attention that several countries may be exporting semiautomatic assault 
weapons into this country despite the 1968 Gun Control Act, which 
limits the importation of these weapons.
  When I asked the ATF to explain why these weapons were granted import 
permits, I learned that ATF, in the last few years, has not applied--or 
at least

[[Page S9964]]

has not been consistent in applying--a standard of review for 
importation of weapons set by Congress under the 1968 Gun Control Act, 
a standard which has been specifically applied to semiautomatic rifles 
and shotguns since 1984.
  The Gun Control Act of 1968 allows importation of only those types of 
firearms ``generally recognized as particularly suitable for, or 
readily adaptable to, sporting purposes.''


                    definition of sporting purposes

  In 1984, ATF conducted a comprehensive analysis of the sporting 
purposes of rifles and shotguns. They looked at the legislative 
history, studied the available literature, made a technical evaluation 
of the weapons, and conducted a wide-ranging comprehensive survey and 
determined that there were clear differences between semiautomatic 
assault rifles and semiautomatic rifles used in traditional sports.
  The term ``sporting purposes'' refers to traditional sports such as 
target shooting, skeet and trap shooting, and hunting.
  In 1989, with the support of President Bush, ATF announced the import 
ban of more than 40 semiautomatic assault weapons. ATF subsequently 
ruled most of the weapons not legal for importation, stating that 
``There is nothing in the law to indicate the term `sporting purposes' 
was intended to recognize every conceivable type of activity or 
competition which might employ a firearm.''
  A June 30 ruling by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal heard that: 
``The Secretary of the Treasury had implied authority under the Gun 
Control Act to order temporary suspension.''
  Further, the Court's decision stated that arguments against the 
suspension of these weapons ``places too much emphasis on the rifle's 
structure for determining whether a firearm falls within the sporting 
purpose exception. While the Bureau must consider the rifle's physical 
structure, the Act requires the Bureau to equally consider the rifle's 
use.''
  I do not believe that ATF is currently applying the sporting purposes 
test based on their own analysis in approving import permits for 
semiautomatic assault rifles.
  As a result of this inconsistency in the standards of review, tens of 
thousands of military-style assault weapons may, in fact, be coming in 
to the country from all over the world.
  I have spoken directly to President Clinton about this--and I am 
joined so far by 30 of my colleagues in this request--and that is that 
he temporarily suspend importation of specific semiautomatic weapons 
until a determination can be made as to the suitability of these 
weapons for sporting purposes as required by this Federal statute.
  Let me point out that the 1994 assault weapons legislation was not 
intended, nor do I believe it does, supersede or conflict with the 1968 
law.
  I have requested from ATF a list of all semiautomatic weapons granted 
import permits in the last 2 years and the specifications for those 
weapons, where they are going and to whom, and whether the manufacturer 
is state or privately owned. They indicate it will take 4 more weeks to 
provide it.
  As of this moment, though, one particular case stands out. It 
involves a munitions manufacturer owned by our friend and ally, the 
Government of Israel. The reason we know this is because Israel was up 
front and indicated to the ATF what weapons they were planning to 
export. The Los Angeles Times reported the pending export as a part of 
a recent investigation. That is how I found out, and I now believe and 
am concerned that a flood of weapons may be taking place into this 
Nation.
  Israel Military Industries, a Government-owned munitions 
manufacturer, has been granted permission to export to the United 
States for commercial sale tens of thousands of semiautomatic assault 
weapons. The weapons, the Uzi American and the Galil Sporter are 
modeled after weapons used and created for the Israeli military.
  The Uzi, because of its reliability and accuracy, has been used by 
the armed forces of over 20 nations, including the U.S. Secret Service. 
It features a large pistol grip that extends beneath the center of the 
body of the weapon. The Uzi is touted as ``lethality in a tiny 
package'' by a reference book called ``The World's Greatest Small 
Arms.'' The author of that manual explains that the Uzi grip ``is 
positioned roughly at the point of balance of the gun which makes the 
weapon much easier to control when firing bursts.''
  The text goes on to explain that the ammunition feed is through the 
butt and magazines are inserted from below the grip, ``a system that 
helps the firer replace magazines quickly, especially in the 
darkness.''
  The Uzi American planned for export, according to ATF, is based on 
the Uzi minicarbine. Except for the shorter length and changes to the 
stock, again according to the reference book, ``is virtually, in all 
other respects, identical to the Uzi carbine'' which was barred from 
importation in 1989 by the ATF under President Bush's order.
  The Galil was created in Israel subsequent to the Six Day War in 
1967. The Israeli military, looking for a lighter, more convenient 
weapon, enlisted a design team to combine the best features of the AK-
47 and the M-16 rifle. The weapon was finished in 1972 and was used in 
the 1973 Yom Kippur war.
  The modified version of the Galil now planned for export, as it has 
been described to me, in addition to being designed for semiautomatic 
fire, is modified as follows:
  The bayonet mount was removed. The threaded muzzle for attaching a 
flash suppressor was removed. And the folding stock, designed for 
concealability, is replaced by a fixed wooden stock.
  The protruding pistol grip, which enables the weapon to be held at 
the hip to spray fire, was modified by essentially attaching a wood 
bridge that connects the pistol grip and the stock, called a thumbhole 
grip. A key point that the ATF ruled is that the grip, as redesigned, 
protrudes conspicuously and, therefore, still constitutes a pistol 
grip, an assault weapon characteristic under the 1994 Federal law.
  Both the Uzi and Galil, as modified, would be exported with a 
standard 10-round ammunition clip as required by U.S. law.
  However, these weapons are capable of accepting 30-, 50-, and 100-
round magazines, millions of which are available and still legally sold 
in this country and still imported, although they are banned from 
importation.
  Now, even as modified, the Uzi and Galil are capable of firing 
bullets as fast as the operator can pull the trigger. They each possess 
a grip that allows the weapon to be fired from the hip, and ATF 
indicates that with a few alterations, they are able to be made fully 
automatic.
  In short, these are the same type of weapons that many Americans are 
trying to keep off our streets and out of the hands of criminals. I 
believe that the permitted importation of tens of thousands of these 
weapons is a terrible mistake on the part of the ATF. Assault weapons, 
like the Uzi and the AK-47, which is similar to the Galil, are weapons 
often used against police, often with deadly results. Let me give you 
some examples.
  A case with which I am very familiar--and I have talked to the 
commanding officer of this officer who hails from my city, and the 
incident took place a few blocks from my home--a San Francisco police 
officer by the name of James Guelff was on duty one November night in 
1994. A young father, he was usually the first to arrive on the scene 
of a crime.
  That night, a call came in about a sniper firing at civilians at Pine 
and California Streets. The perpetrator was armed with several assault 
rifles and pistols, including a 9-millimeter Uzi semiautomatic pistol, 
30- and 50-round clips and more than a thousand rounds of ammunition. 
He had more firepower than the entire complement of 104 police officers 
responding to the scene combined.
  Officer Guelff, a highly decorated 10-year police veteran, was the 
first to arrive on the scene. He was immediately pinned down by assault 
rifle fire. He was struck while attempting to reload his police-issue 
revolver. He bled to death while his fellow officers and rescue team 
tried in vain to reach him. Because the suspect was wearing body armor 
and a Kevlar helmet, officers had to try to angle their shots under the 
helmet to bring him down. Several other people were shot and injured 
before the suspect was killed.
  Following that incident, I authored legislation which increases 
criminal sentences for using body armor in the commission of a crime. 
Thanks to you,

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Mr. President, as you know, that legislation, called the James Guelff 
Body Armor Act, is currently included in S. 10, the juvenile crime bill 
now before the Senate, and I should say thanks to the chairman of the 
committee, Senator Hatch.
  Less than 1 month ago, police in Tacoma, WA, faced a man with an SKS 
assault rifle. The man fired on police and struck Officer William Lowry 
twice, killing him. The rifle, police say, was modified to carry a 
high-capacity magazine and to fire automatically.
  Last February, in Los Angeles, two would-be bank robbers took on 
approximately 350 police officers from 5 agencies in a major shootout 
in Hollywood, Los Angeles. The criminals were armed with three fully 
automatic Norinco assault weapons, modeled after the AK-47, an import 
from China, a fully automatic HK-9 imported from Germany, a fully 
automatic Bushmaster assault weapon modeled after the banned AR-15, and 
a semiautomatic Berreta 9-millimeter pistol. These weapons had all been 
altered to be made fully automatic.
  The perpetrators wore body armor from their neck to their ankles, 
even going so far as to duct tape body armor to any part of their body 
that could possibly be exposed. They fired 1,100 rounds of ammunition 
from high-capacity magazines that could hold as many as 50 bullets, 
taping them together in a unique way so that they can be replaced 
quickly in a style used by soldiers in combat. They wounded 11 police 
officers and 7 civilians before being shot and killed.
  This has been shown on many television shows. There is footage of it 
from beginning to end. I can tell you, the streets resemble a war zone. 
Police on the scene were so outgunned that they had to go to a nearby 
gun store and ``borrow" assault-type weapons in order to match the 
gunmen's firepower. Governor Wilson has now provided weapons to police 
departments which are fully automatic, again escalating the battle on 
our streets.

  In addition to Officers Guelff and Lowry, Officer William Christian 
of Washington, DC, was killed with a MAC-11 in 1995;
  Officer John Novabilski of Prince Georges County, MD, killed with a 
MAC-11 in May 1995;
  Officer John Norcross of Haddon Heights, NJ, killed with an AK-47 in 
April of 1995;
  Officer Timothy Howe of Oakland, killed with an AK-47, April 1995;
  Officer Daniel Doffyn of Chicago, killed with a TEC-9, March 1995;
  Officer Henry Daly, Washington, DC, killed with a TEC-9, November 
1994;
  Officer Michael Miller of Washington, DC, killed with a TEC-9 in 
November 1994.
  Officer Martha Dixon-Martinez of Washington, DC, killed with a TEC-9 
in November 1994.
  Officer Julio Andino-Rivera, of Puerto Rico, killed with an AR-15 in 
September 1994;
  Officer Dan Calabrese of Winslow Township, NJ, killed with an Uzi in 
June of 1994;
  And a case I often use, a rookie police officer in Los Angeles on her 
first call, the top rookie of her class, Christy Hamilton, killed with 
an AR-15 responding to a domestic violence call.
  These weapons are not designed for sporting purposes. They are not 
designed for hunting. They are the weapons of choice for grievance 
killers, for gangs, and for those who go up against the police.
  They are designed to kill large numbers of people in combat, just as 
the Uzi and the Galil were designed for the Israeli military to do just 
that. They have no place on the streets of a civilized society.
  Israel has been a friend and an ally to the United States, a 
friendship I and other Members of this body have strongly supported. It 
is my personal hope--and I have written to Prime Minister Netanyahu and 
expressed this--that a nation that understands, perhaps better than 
most, the paramount importance of any government's responsibility to 
ensure the safety and security of its people will understand that there 
is a moral issue at stake here that far outweighs any commercial value 
the sale of these weapons holds for their country.
  There is a munitions manufacturer owned by the State of Israel. And 
by advancing this export, the Israeli Government is putting the 
official imprimatur of its people on the commercial sale of weapons 
designed, not for hunting but for combat, not to protect but to kill.
  It is my earnest hope that the Israeli Government will respond to 
these importunings and will lead the way in and set an example for 
others to follow.
  More than 4,000 people were killed by gang violence in Los Angeles 
alone in one 5-year period--1991 to 1995--gangs that all too often use 
these kinds of weapons to terrorize and control neighborhoods.
  We do not need more of these weapons on our streets.
  As I said, I have asked Prime Minister Netanyahu to personally 
intervene to stop the export of these weapons to the United States.
  I have personally had the opportunity to discuss this with the 
Israeli Ambassador to the United States. Once again, I appeal to the 
Prime Minister's sense of what is right and, in the best interest of 
our continued friendship and the mutual security of our two people, to 
please prevent this sale.
  It is important also to understand that we are not singling out only 
those weapons being exported by Israel. I have requested information on 
semiautomatic rifles that have been approved for importation from more 
than 17 other countries that may have similar military features which 
distinguish them from the traditional definition of a sporting rifle.
  To the extent that any other such weapons are discovered, and if such 
weapons are manufactured by Government-owned entities as is the case 
with these weapons, I will be making the same request of those 
government leaders as well.
  In the meantime, 30 of us now urge President Clinton to use his 
executive authority to temporarily suspend this importation of weapons 
and to direct the ATF to use the traditional sporting purposes standard 
in determining whether any semiautomatic assault weapons should be 
approved for importation to the United States.
  I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.
  Mr. FAIRCLOTH addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.

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