Posted on 08/25/2004 11:18:58 AM PDT by neverdem
The end may be near for controversial assault weapon ban.
Just looking at the two rifles in David Conway's hands, it might seem easy to pick out the assault weapon banned by federal law for manufacture and sale in the United States. It's not.
The ArmaLite M15A2 — a black, metal, military-style rifle with the pistol grip and detachable magazine — looks the part of an outlaw. But it is a legal weapon produced by gun makers today and bought and sold by citizens.
The other weapon, a Springfield M1-A, is a more traditional wood-and-metal rifle that doesn't resemble the common image of assault weapons. Yet it is covered by the 1994 assault weapon production ban, although the gun itself is one of many that were grandfathered in and remain legal to possess and use.
To Conway, the comparison of the two rifles shows why the ban on semi-automatic assault weapons made no sense and did little to stop gun-related violence.
"This is all cosmetics. Technically, there is no such thing as an assault weapon," the legislative affairs coordinator for the South Dakota Shooting Sports Foundation, a state affiliate of the National Rifle Association, said. "This was something dreamed up at the beginning of the Clinton administration, designed to be politically correct."
Conway believes the 1994 law, set to expire Sept. 13 unless Congress acts, had more to do with politics and anti-gun sentiments than reducing gun violence. Advocates of the ban dispute that. They include an alliance of the Washington, D.C.-based Million Mom March and Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Alliance spokesman Rob Wilcox and volunteer Nancy Robinson stopped in Rapid City recently on a multi-state tour to support extending the ban. They said citizens here were a tough sell but paid attention when reminded that former presidents Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford had supported the ban, as did current President Bush.
"The ban has had a tremendous positive impact," Robinson said. "This nation has seen a 66 percent decrease in the number of crimes linked to those banned weapons."
Wilcox said the ban has had little impact on hunting and target shooting, because it specifically exempted 670 rifles and shotguns. The ban covered 19 specified semi-automatic weapons, which fire one round with each pull of the trigger. Fully automatic weapons have been banned for general ownership since the 1930s. The ban also covered production of large-capacity magazines holding more than 10 rounds. In addition to specific weapons, it also banned any firearm that could accept a detachable magazine and had more than one of the listed military features — including protruding pistol grips, folding/telescoping stocks, bayonet mounts and flash suppressors.
Wilcox said there is no sound reason for such combinations in a gun that is used for legitimate hunting and target shooting.
"There's no need for these kinds of weapons," he said. "They're just killing machines."
Conway disputes that. He said some types of legitimate shooting competitions could require the larger-capacity magazines. The Springfield is included in the ban because it has the detachable magazine, bayonet mount and flash suppressor. Yet the Armalite doesn't fall under the ban because it has only the detachable magazine and pistol grip.
"One more of the features, and it would make this a politically incorrect gun," Conway said.
Like many of the banned weapons, it is an accurate, easy-handling gun on the target range. And it also is effective in hunting such predators as the coyote, he said.
Yet the weapons also have ominous killing power in the hands of the wrong people. That is why a number of law-enforcement associations — including the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Major County Sheriff's Association — support the ban. So do groups of city and county organizations, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, National Education Association and American Bar Association, Wilcox said.
Rapid City Police Chief Craig Tieszen didn't take an official position on the ban, largely because problems with assault weapons are "just not a big deal" in Rapid City.
"Those kinds of issues could be out there, but it's not a front-burner issue for us," Tieszen said. "A lot of this is caught up in politics."
U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle, who is running for re-election in November, voted earlier this year to renew the ban as part of a more comprehensive gun-related bill that failed. Daschle, graded F by the NRA, had received a letter from number of South Dakota police chiefs and county sheriffs urging support of the ban.
"Sen. Daschle is confident that he's on the right side of the issue, the same side as the president and many other prominent Republicans — who, like Sen. Daschle, strongly support the Second Amendment rights of gun owners but who also believe these dangerous assault weapons do not belong on the streets," spokesman Jake Maas said.
Daschle's Republican challenger, former Rep. John Thune, said he wouldn't support the ban. "There hasn't been enough of a body of evidence that suggests this should be extended," he said. "The Second Amendment is pretty sacred. And I believe that South Dakota people should have the right to protect and defend themselves and their families."
Thune has an A-plus NRA grade and endorsement and keeps weapons in his home, including a 9-mm handgun. "I'm teaching my daughters how to use firearms. It's just part of our culture," he said.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth, who has an A grade from NRA, also opposes the extension of the ban, spokesman Russ Levsen said.
"She believes that gun violence, not gun ownership, should be the focus of legislation that affects our Second Amendment rights," Levsen said.
Herseth's Republican challenger, former state legislator Larry Diedrich has an A-plus NRA grade and endorsement. He opposes the extension of the ban, citing inconsistencies in the law and the desire of anti-gun forces to "get their nose under the tent and see where they can get from there."
"The problem is, the sort of people who would use these weapons for the wrong reasons would have them anyway," Diedrich said.
Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com
Copyright © 2004 The Rapid City Journal, Rapid City, SD
South Dakota is a great state for honest gun owners. $10 for a concealed carry license. No license required for open carry.
The re-taking of the United States from the enemy, is legitimate hunting and target shooting.
Your weapons can never be cleaned too much, only oiled too much.
The reason for these kinds of firearms is various...Collectors, those interested in service rifle competition, serious self defense, ability to better protect the state/country from threats for foreign and domestic, the list goes on.
As is pointed out they are no more or no more or no less a "killing machine" than the similar semi-automatic rifles that are legal under the AWB.
Memo to Lib's. Shut up and let the AWB sunset as it should.
No such thing as a "bad gun", only bad gun owners.
And they are only bad if they are not accurate....(grin)
Then he will be deeply saddened when September 13th rolls around.
Unfortunately President Bush and 'many other prominent Republicans' are on Tommy Daschle's side of this issue, which is not the Constitutional side.
It won't be renewed, at least that's how it looks now, thankfully.
The ban will sunset as it should. Unfortunately, it will make little difference to us trapped behind enemy lines here in Kalifornistan. Send reinforcements!
www.kerrycountry.org
Somethings smells bad about this article. In fact, it stinks!
The author presents a fair and balanced look at both sides of the debate, plus, he accurately uses the term 'magazine' instead of 'clip'.
He's obviously no journalist!
How about for other reasons, such as:
"We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness......that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it."?
Well everyone knows that guns with wooden stocks are less dangerous.
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