[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 78 (Friday, May 23, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S7124]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     PRESIDENTIAL SUPPORT OF REAUTHORIZATION OF ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, in 1994 President Clinton signed into law a 
ban on the production of certain semiautomatic assault weapons and 
high-capacity ammunition magazines. The 1994 law banned a list of 19 
specific weapons as well as a number of other weapons incorporating 
certain design characteristics, such as bayonets and pistol grips. This 
law is scheduled to sunset on September 13, 2004. If the law is not 
reauthorized, the production of military-style semiautomatic weapons 
can legally resume.
  In March of this year, in testimony before the Senate Judiciary 
Committee, Attorney General John Ashcroft indicated the Bush 
administration's support for the current ban on assault weapons but 
would not indicate support for reauthorization of the ban. Recently, 
the White House indicated the President does support reauthorizing the 
ban. However, a senior White House adviser reportedly said that this 
bill would never make it to the President's desk. And a spokesperson 
for House Majority Leader Tom Delay recently said ``we have no 
intentions of bringing it up.''
  Failure to reauthorize the legislation would be irresponsible because 
the assault weapon ban works. According to National Institute of 
Justice statistics reported by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun 
Violence, gun trace requests for assault weapons declined 20 percent in 
the first calendar year after the ban took effect, dropping from 4,077 
in 1994 to 3,268 in 1995. Over the same time period, gun murders 
declined only 10 percent and trace requests for all types of guns 
declined 11 percent.
  Given the firepower of these firearms, it is not surprising that so 
many law enforcement organizations supported the Federal assault 
weapons ban and worked for its passage. Among the many that supported 
the ban were the Law Enforcement Steering Committee, the Fraternal 
Order of Police, the National Sheriffs' Association, the International 
Association of Chiefs of Police, the Major City Chiefs Association, the 
International Brotherhood of Police Officers, the National Association 
of Police Organizations, the Hispanic American Police Command Officers 
Association, the National Black Police Association, the National 
Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, the Police Executive 
Research Forum, and the Police Foundation.
  It is critical that we reauthorize the assault weapons ban. Absent 
such action, AK47s, UZIs, and other semi-automatic weapons will again 
become easily obtainable weapons of choice for gang members, drug 
dealers, and other dangerous criminals. I urge the President to show 
his support for this bill by asking the House Republican Leadership to 
pass this bill in the House and the Senate Leadership to pass it in the 
Senate.

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