[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 30 (Monday, March 14, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2654-S2655]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mr. Warner, Mr. Schumer, Mr. 
        DeWine, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Boxer, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. 
        Levin, Mr. Dodd, and Mr. Reed):
  S. 620. A bill to reinstate the Public Safety and Recreational 
Firearms Use Protection Act; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise to offer, along with Senators 
Warner of Virginia and DeWine of Ohio, the Assault Weapons Ban 
Reauthorization Act of 2005. We are joined by Senators Schumer, 
Mikulski, Durbin, Clinton, Boxer, Levin, Dodd and Reed, who are 
original cosponsors of this critical legislation.
  This is the same basic legislation that passed by the Senate last 
year as an amendment to a bill designed to provide blanket immunity for 
gun manufacturers. However, once that amendment passed, the underlying 
bill was defeated, in part by its own sponsors, after the National 
Rifle Association applied intense pressure to Members of this body.
  Thus we saw the ideological and extreme view of the National Rifle 
Association, when they sacrificed their most desired legislative 
priority--gun immunity legislation--because the Senate had approved the 
assault weapons ban and two other amendments that would save people's 
lives: closing the gun show loophole, and requiring trigger locks.
  Although President Bush had said he supported the assault weapons 
ban, he refused to personally engage to help this legislation get 
signed into law, and the ban expired on September 13, 2004. As a 
result, these weapons are now once again proliferating through our 
neighborhoods and communities throughout the United States.
  That is why, today, I am introducing the Assault Weapons Ban 
Reauthorization Act of 2005. This legislation mirrors the legislation I 
authored in the Senate and then-Congressman Schumer authored in the 
House in 1994.
  As was done then, the legislation I am introducing would: ban the 
manufacturing of 19 specific types of military-style assault weapons, 
as well as a number of other guns based on a simple test to determine 
whether the guns were hunting guns or weapons of war; prohibit the 
manufacture of large capacity ammunition magazines--clips, drums and 
strips of more than ten rounds--because it is those large capacity 
ammunition feeding devices that can make a semiautomatic assault 
weapons so very deadly; and continue to exempt 670 hunting guns 
entirely, and it is also important to note that the ban would continue 
to ``grandfather'' in every gun that was made before 1994. So no 
innocent gun owner would lose a weapon. There will again be no 
confiscation component to the bill.
  This legislation is not perfect. There are comparisons that were made 
to get it passed last time around, and since its previous enactment 
there have been many concerns raised about the need to tighten or alter 
the definition in order to make the prohibition more effective. I am 
open to working with my colleagues to ensure we enact the best 
legislation possible, but we need a first step--at a minimum Congress 
needs to reinstate the original assault weapons ban.
  Unfortunately, we are already seeing the impact of the lapse of this 
law and we should not let another year pass without reinstating its 
protections. We know the ban worked. Supply went down. Prices went up. 
The use of these weapons of war in gun crimes had fallen consistently 
since the ban passed.

[[Page S2655]]

According to Department of Justice data, the proportion of these 
assault weapons used in crime fell more than 65 percent since the ban 
took effect. And these statistics are backed up by report from the 
Brady Campaign.
  The analysis in the Brady study was performed by Gerald Nunziato, who 
for eight years served as the Special Agent in Charge of ATF's National 
Tracing Center--a man who know first hand what these numbers means.
  The study found two key things:
  First: ``Assault weapons banned by name in the Federal Assault 
Weapons Act have declined significantly as a percentage of guns ATF has 
traced to crime, and in absolute number of traces, since the Act was 
passed. Had this decline not occurred, thousands more of these banned 
assault weapons would likely have been traced to crime over the last 10 
years.''
  In other words, the assault weapons legislation signed into law ten 
years ago successfully dried up the use of banned assault weapons in 
crime. Second, arguments have arisen that despite this evidence, the 
ban has not really worked because gun manufacturers would simply 
produce copycat guns that have the same killing power as assault 
weapons, and use these guns in crime across the country. I agree that 
gun manufacturers have tried everything they could to circumvent the 
ban and this concern is something that may need to be addressed. But 
let's look at what the Brady study said about this issue.
  Second: ``The gun industry's efforts to evade the Federal Assault 
Weapons Act through the sale of `copycat' guns has not substantially 
undercut the positive effect of the statute in reducing the incidence 
of assault weapons among crime guns.''
  In other words, even though determined gun manufacturers tried to 
evade the ban, they were not successful and copycat guns did not 
replace banned guns in equal numbers, at least when traced to crimes.
  In many cases, and when dealing with many issues, I continue to find 
that what is most compelling is not just the statistics, but rather the 
real people affected by the policies we debate. It's those men, women 
and children that are the reason most of us come to work everyday. I'm 
here today to talk about this issues because of the devastating effect 
these guns can have on families in our neighborhoods, office buildings, 
street corners or schoolhouses across the country. I have said before 
that this issue really came home to me on July 1, 1993, just over 11 
years ago, when Gian Luigi Ferri walked into 101 California Street in 
San Francisco carrying two high-capacity TEC-DC9 assault pistols 
capable of holding 30- or 50-bullet magazines. Within minutes, Ferri 
had murdered eight people and six others were wounded. His victims were 
not soldiers or even enforcement officers. These people doing everyday 
jobs in an everyday place. A place forever tainted by the bloodshed 
caused by one man and his assault weapons.
  And 101 California was just one of many shootings by grievance 
killers, discontented employees or even schoolchildren--shooting that 
shows us that nobody is safe when these guns are in the hands of the 
wrong people. Yet five months ago, the federal ban on assault weapons 
expired, and once again new guns like the TEC-DC9 are allowed on our 
streets. The ban expired despite overwhelming public support to renew 
it--71 percent of all Americans support renewing the assault weapons 
ban, as do 64 percent of people in homes with a gun. And it expired 
despite overwhelming support from law enforcement and civic 
organizations--nearly every major law enforcement and civic 
organization has supported a renewal, including the Fraternal Order of 
Police, the Chiefs of Police, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the 
National Association of Counties, and the list goes on and on.
  Sadly, the ban expired despite the stated public support of President 
George W. Bush and former Attorney General John Ashcroft and despite 
the support of a majority of United States Senators--52 of us voted to 
renew this ban just this past March. Despite all of this support, this 
past September the American people were lift unprotected and made less 
safe. And make no mistake--when the ban expired the guns began to flow. 
And when the guns began to flow the safety of our communities was put 
in jeopardy.
  One advertisement that ran in gun magazines is from ArmaLite, a 
company that makes post-ban rifles. ArmaLite offered a coupon for a 
free flash suppressor for anyone who bought one of their guns before 
the ban expired so that, once the ban expired, the gun could be 
modified to its pre-ban configuration.
  The ad even states that, ``It is not legal to install this on a post 
ban rifle until the assault weapons ban sunsets.''
  This is the kind of thing we can continue to expect--companies once 
again producing deadly assault weapons, high capacity clips, and 
dangerous accessories we worked so hard to stop almost ten years ago.
  The original assault weapons ban was passed before September 11, 
2001, with focus on the use of these military weapons by street 
criminals and gangs. But in the intervening years we have come to 
appreciate the significance of the threat posed by foreign terrorists. 
We know that al Qa'ida and other shadowy terrorist groups may plan to 
attack us here, at home, using these very weapons. A training manual 
found in Afghanistan made clear that al Oa'ida has seen the threat 
posed by these weapons. In fact, some of these guns are the very ones 
being used against our men and women in uniform in Afghanistan and in 
Iraq.
  Simply put--these weapons are not just a law enforcement problem. 
They are a homeland security and counterterrorism problem. We need to 
take action to ensure that AK-47s and other such assault weapons cannot 
simply be purchased by a terrorist operative in preparation for an 
attack in the United States.
  I am deeply disappointed that despite support of the American people, 
support of the Congress, and stated support of the President, the 
assault weapons ban was allowed to expire this past fall.
  It is past time to stand up to the NRA and instead listen to law 
enforcement all across the nation who know that this ban makes sense 
and saves lives. It is past time to listen to the studies that show 
that crime with assault weapons of all kinds has decreased by as much 
as 65 percent since the ban took effect almost ten years ago.
  The bottom line is that across this nation everybody knows this ban 
should be law. Law enforcement, mayors, cities, counties, three former 
Presidents, and even George W. Bush himself have said the ban should be 
renewed.
  This time I hope, for the safety of all Americans, President Bush, 
Majority Leader Frist and Speaker Hastert will help re-enact this 
important legislation.

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