that moron from LA ought to STFU!!! CA has STATE laws banning everything anyway
Posted on 09/08/2004 5:26:53 PM PDT by csadoc
Gun enthusiasts eagerly anticipate the expiration of the assault-weapons ban, while law-enforcement officials dread the law's demise.
Set to Expire By Bill Redeker ABCNEWS.com
Gun Enthusiasts Rejoice, But Police Fear What Will Happen When Assault Weapons Ban Ends
L O S A N G E L E S, Sept. 8, 2004— Nothing gets Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton more impassioned than talking about the impending expiration of the 10-year-old assault weapons ban.
"Nobody has an inalienable right to run around with a machine gun," he said. "I'm sorry, that's insanity!" Unless Congress or the Bush administration agrees to extend the ban, it will expire on Monday. Soon, all sorts of semi-automatic weapons could once again be legal.
Assault weapons used to be a hot-button political issue. But the ban is expiring without a serious debate in Congress, even though a survey released this week by the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey found that 68 percent of Americans want Congress to extend the ban.
Republican leaders in Congress want the ban to expire, and President Bush is doing nothing to renew it.
"I think the will of the American people is consistent with letting it expire, so it will expire," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., told reporters on Capitol Hill today.
Bush says he opposes the semi-automatic weapons, but is careful not to upset the National Rifle Association, a powerful gun lobby.
The NRA will endorse the president's re-election bid after the ban expires, ABC News has learned.
But most Democrats aren't putting up a fight either because they do not want to bring on the wrath of the NRA in key congressional districts during an election year.
"There is a big block of Democrats joining a big block of Republicans that will make sure this issue never sees the light of day in the House," said Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president and CEO of the NRA.
Democrats remember what happened 10 years ago, when a Democratic Congress sent then-President Clinton the bill outlawing assault weapons. A few months later, the gun lobby was instrumental in helping Republicans win control of the House.
AK-47s and Uzis Back on the Street?
The ban outlawed 19 types of military-style assault weapons. If it expires, Russian AK-47 assault rifles and Israeli Uzi machine guns could become available, as well as high-capacity ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 bullets.
Chuck Payne, manager of Ray's Sporting Goods in Dallas, is upbeat about the situation.
"If you got a high-capacity magazine you spend less time reloading," he said. "You shoot more, which is good for us because we sell more ammunition."
The firearms industry can't wait to take advantage of the sun setting on the decade-old ban. Arms manufacturer Beretta is currently offering coupons for two free 15-round magazines. An Arizona gun maker is using his Web site to tick off the minutes until the ban expires.
At a shooting range in Los Angeles County, gun enthusiasts said it's about time.
"You have people who effectively want to kill you," said insurance agent Douglas Rahn. Asked if he thought assault weapons are necessary to protect people, he agreed. "Well, I think they are," he said between gunfire bursts down range.
At an indoor target range in Dallas, Randy Ryan said he was glad to see the ban go. "It's just good to see one more silly gun law gone. You almost never see a gun law disappear."
Dropping the ban also means that semi-automatic weapons could soon become available without a folding stock, which makes the gun easier to conceal. It also means that the barrel of the gun can come equipped with a flash suppressor, which makes it more difficult to see the location of the shooter at night.
Many of these modifications are perfectly legal for the military and law enforcement officers, but soon they could be legal for civilian gun owners, and that has police worried.
‘Weapons of Murder’
"They're weapons of murder," says LAPD Chief Bratton. "They are not weapons for hunting or collecting. Why do we want to let the ban expire just so some nut can go running around with a gun and show off? And that's exactly what will happen."
In fact, in 1997 two bank robbers in North Hollywood armed with assault weapons held off 350 cops for more than two hours. They fired more than 1,100 rounds from their 75 round-drum magazines.
Now police are worried that making such guns and magazines legal simply means it will be easier for criminals to get them because more of them will be available.
"The irony is we'll probably have more of these weapons in the United States than there are in Iraq in the hands of insurgents," said Bratton. "Isn't that amazing?"
ABCNEWS' John Cochran contributed to this report.
An outright lie. Who wrote this crap?
I looked real fast and I thought it said :Set To Expire Clinton
Naw, nothing new here. The people want their 2nd Amendment rights. The Democrats want the people to defend themselves with spitballs.
Lying scumbag. He ought to lose his job.
I just read in my email that the Congress will NOT be voting on this bill before it sunsets! That means the AWB is going to be history!
I received a lesson several months ago about AW and I was shocked to learn that I had been duped by the gun grabbers! Not going to happen again!
"Nobody has an inalienable right to run around with a machine gun," he said. "I'm sorry, that's insanity!" ... Soon, all sorts of semi-automatic weapons could once again be legal.
machine gun...semi-automatic
machine gun...semi-automatic
machine gun...semi-automatic
Another J-school genius at work. Say it often enough and the sheeple can't tell the diff. BTW, the (numerous) people I know who own full-auto are more sane than most.
that moron from LA ought to STFU!!! CA has STATE laws banning everything anyway
Bill Redeker and the "good" people at ABC news wrote it, but it's the quotes of the left-wing, politically appointed (by a scumbag demorat mayor), anti-gun desk-jockey, office-pogue (as opposed to MOST cops on the street who SUPPORT the 2nd Amendment) maggot of a police chief that are disgusting and amazing...
"Police Chief William Bratton (PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF NEW ENGLAND TRANSPLANT TO L.A.) more impassioned than talking about the impending expiration of the 10-year-old assault weapons ban.
'Nobody has an inalienable right to run around with a machine gun,' he said".
They are presently available if one wants to pay for the Class III license
Liar and inciter of fear....and hater of the US Constitution and the Citizenry he swore to protect Staunchly Anti American to boot IMO
Does this sh*t for brains have any idea what a flash suppressor is for? It's so the SHOOTER doesn't get blinded by his own flash. What a dumbass.
... and killed no-one.
Huh?
Clueless pap from the anti's hoping to rile the mindless.
"The assault weapons ban was an un-American law that created a false definition of what constitutes an '"assault weapon"', and then mandated cosmetic restrictions on semi-automatic weapons, which are not assault weapons. With the expiration of this useless and dangerous law, Americans will no longer face 10 years in prison because of a bayonet mount on the end of their rifles".
when you are right chief...you are right...NOBODY has an "inalienable".....
Meaning of UNALIENABLE Pronunciation: un'eyleeunubul
WordNet Dictionary
Definition: [adj] incapable of being repudiated or transferred to another; "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights"
Synonyms: absolute, inalienable, infrangible, inviolable, nontransferable, unassignable, untransferable
Antonyms: alienable,
See Also: intrinsic, intrinsical
Webster's 1913 Dictionary
Definition:
\Un*al"ien*a*ble\, a. Inalienable; as, unalienable rights. --Swift. -- {Un*al"ien*a*bly}, adv.
I would love to own an original Kalashnikov-47 to shoot in the desert. Not a cheap knock-off. And I won't offend anyone way out there but snakes and scorpions and coyotes.
Ok, before too many people go off the deep end on this liberal piece of trash article, I should remind folks of the political philosphy of 2nd Amendment Rights. At the time the Bill of Rights was written there were no automatic weapons, or semi-automatic weapons for that matter. So don't let the left get you side-tracked on features of weapons, or lack there of. The 2nd Amendment comes after the 1st for a very particular reason. It insures that the first survives. Heaven forbid that I would ever have to fight our military to perserve my freedoms, but I don't want to go up against fully automatic weapons (I'm not talking M-16's - they are no longer fully automatic - I'm talking .50 cal) with a semi-automatic weapon. I don't want to go up against a TOW missle with a shot gun with a pistol grip. As an American, I should have access to any weapon that prepares me to defend the constituion, whether against forces internal or external.
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