[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 17588-17589]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I believe I have 4 minutes, which I very 
much appreciate and I want to thank my colleague from California for 
yielding the time and for her tremendous and unstinting leadership on 
this very important issue.
  If nothing happens, AK-47s, Uzis, and TEC-9s are going to be back on 
the streets next week. That is a giant step backward. It is hard to 
believe that with all the progress we have made in the fight on crime, 
with the reduction in crime, with the reduction in the number in law 
enforcement who are hurt and killed in the line of duty, with the new 
war on terrorism upon us, that we are going to make it easy for anybody 
to get an AK-47, provided they have not been convicted of a felony. 
Someone on a terrorist watch list will be able to walk into a store and 
get an AK-47.
  What is going on in America? This should not be a contest. This bill 
should have been renewed without a debate. Everyone who studied it has 
agreed it has been broadly successful. This President and the previous 
four, from Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford to Bill Clinton and Jimmy 
Carter, are on record as being for this, and because of a small band of 
people who are ideologues, who are extreme, we are not going to see 
this happen.
  This represents the dysfunction of American politics. When a country 
cannot deal with an issue in a straightforward, forthright way, when a 
country that has had success takes a step back because a narrow few 
have some ideological notion that everyone should be entitled to have 
any weapon they want--some of them even believe a bazooka or a tank is 
okay--then something is wrong.
  We need some leadership. We need the President of the United States 
to ask the House of Representatives to vote on the bill. We have not 
heard a peep out of him. We need some leadership from the leadership of 
the House to allow the bill to be on the floor. The crime bill of 1994, 
for all the ``sturm und drang,'' was one of the great governmental 
successes of the last decade.
  As we wrote it, our motto in that bill was tough on punishment and 
smart on prevention. We brought a grand coalition from the most liberal 
to the most conservative to deal with the scourge of crime. The only 
reason there is not much of a fuss on this issue, regrettably, is 
because we have succeeded, because crime rates are lower and the large 
impetus to do more has declined because of our success.
  When one has success, the answer is not to undo that success. It is 
to continue what has been done, and we are not. It is a sign, in my 
judgment, of the weakness of our politics, and even of this Republic, 
that the Senator from California and I are on the floor today as the 
gates are closing, pleading with our President and our colleagues to 
allow a vote to occur. This is not the America of which we should be 
proud.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from California.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished Senator from 
New York. I remember my call to him 10 years ago over in the House 
saying, ``Chuck, would you consider handling this in the House,'' and 
he did. It was not easy. After the 1994 vote, the House repealed the 
assault weapons legislation, under pressure from the NRA. He stood 
fast--we stood fast--and the law continued. I am very grateful to the 
Senator and I want him to know that.
  Going on at this very time is a press conference of law enforcement 
from all over the United States. One of the people who journeyed here 
for this press conference is a man by the name of Lee Guelff. His 
brother James Guelff was a police officer working out of Northern 
Station in San Francisco when a call came in that there was a sniper at 
Pine and California Streets. Officer Guelff responded to the call. What 
he found was a sniper, clad from head to toe in Kevlar, with military-
style semiautomatic assault weapons, as well as over 1,000 rounds of 
ammunition. He had his service revolver, and the shots were flying.
  As he went to speed-load his weapon, he was hit in the head by a 
bullet of the hundreds of rounds this man fired. It took 150 police 
officers to bring down this man clad in Kevlar at the corner of Pine 
and California Streets.
  These weapons are not for civilian use. These weapons all were 
designed for military use to kill large numbers of people in close 
combat. Whether it is Geneva, OH, or Pine and California Streets in San 
Francisco, these weapons do not belong in civilian hands.
  I will show a few pictures of police officers who have been in 
similar status. Marion County, IN, Deputy Sheriff Jason Baker was shot 
with an AK-47 during a traffic pursuit. He was following directly 
behind the fleeing vehicle when the suspects shot him in the head with 
one of the rounds from the AK-47. He died that day from gunshot wounds.
  Lance Corporal Dana Lyle Tate and Corporal Dyke Coursen, Beaufort 
County deputy sheriffs, were shot and killed

[[Page 17589]]

with an assault rifle after responding to a domestic disturbance call. 
Everyone who knows law enforcement knows domestic disturbances are 
fraught with jeopardy. When someone has an assault weapon against a 
police officer entering that house, the police officers do not have a 
chance.
  San Francisco police officer Isaac Espinoza, 29, was gunned down 
April 10 of this year with an AK-47. His partner was wounded as well. 
There were a number of bullets fired. He was shot in the back.
  Los Angeles County Police Captain Michael Sparkes, just on August 10 
of this year, was shot and killed while off duty in Rosewood, CA. He 
was taking an early morning bicycle ride when he was confronted by two 
alleged gang members. The two men were attempting to rob Sparkes when 
an exchange of gunfire occurred. Captain Sparkes was shot multiple 
times with an AK-47 assault rifle containing a 40-round magazine of 
ammunition.
  Downstairs there are representatives from the Fraternal Order of 
Police, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Major City 
Chiefs, the National Association of Police Organizations, the National 
Association of Black Police Officers.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The time of the Senator has 
expired.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I thank you. One last statement. Virtually all of law 
enforcement has implored us, has requested that we reauthorize this 
legislation.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Oklahoma.

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