[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 36 (Friday, March 2, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S2558]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       ASSAULT WEAPONS PROTECTION

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, in 1994, I voted for the assault weapons 
ban which was enacted into law, and in March 2004, I joined a 
bipartisan majority of the Senate in voting to extend the ban for 
another 10 years. Unfortunately, despite the overwhelming support of 
the law enforcement community, the ongoing threat of terrorism, and 
bipartisan support in the Senate, neither President Bush nor the 
Republican congressional leadership acted to help protect Americans 
from assault weapons. On September 13, 2004, the assault weapons ban 
was allowed to expire. Today, law enforcement agencies across the 
country have been forced to upgrade their firepower in order to counter 
what they describe as an increasing presence of high-powered weapons on 
the streets.
  According to an article last week in USA Today, Scott Knight, 
chairman of the Firearms Committee of the International Association of 
Chiefs of Police, revealed that an informal survey of approximately 20 
police departments showed that since 2004, all of the agencies have 
been forced to either add weapons to their officers' units or replace 
existing weaponry with military-style arms. ``This (weapons upgrade) is 
being done with an eye to the absolute knowledge that more higher-
caliber weapons are on the street since the expiration of the ban,'' 
Knight explained.
  The 1994 assault weapons ban prohibited the sale of 19 of the highest 
powered and most lethal firearms produced. It also prohibited the sale 
of semiautomatic weapons that incorporated a detachable magazine and 
two or more specific military features. These features included folding 
telescoping stocks, threaded muzzles or flash suppressors, protruding 
pistol grips, bayonet mounts, barrel shrouds, or grenade launchers.
  Ron Stucker, criminal investigations chief of the Orange County 
Sheriff's Department in Florida, stated that over the past 2 years his 
department has been arming many of its deputies with assault weapons. 
These deputies are now ``frequently'' encountering dangerous assault 
weapons even during routine traffic stops.
  In Houston, homicides rose 25 percent in 2006 over the previous year. 
Police Chief Harold Hurtt acknowledged the AK-47 assault rifle has 
become the ``weapon of choice'' for major drug dealers, warring gangs 
and immigrant smugglers. ``The reality on the street is that many of 
these weapons are readily available,'' according to Hurtt, whose 
department has also been consistently upgrading its weaponry with 
assault style arms.
  It is clear that allowing the 1994 assault weapons ban to lapse has 
contributed to the dangerous and deadly consequences so many of us 
feared. Over the past 2 years criminals have been permitted easier 
access to weapons that simply have no place on our streets. I urge my 
colleagues to enact a commonsense ban on assault weapons.

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