Senator Feinstein, Governor Davis, and California Law Enforcement Urge Congress to Extend Assault Weapons Ban
August 21, 2003

Los Angeles, CA - U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif), Governor Gray Davis, Los Angeles Police Chief Bill Bratton, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and a wide range of California law enforcement officials urged Congress today to permanently ban the manufacture and sale of assault weapons. The original Assault Weapons Ban, sponsored by Senator Feinstein, will expire on September 13, 2004, unless it is reauthorized.

In addition to Governor Davis, Chief Bratton and Sheriff Baca, Senator Feinstein was scheduled to be joined by Commissioner Spike Helmick, California Highway Patrol, Sheriff Lou Blanas, Sacramento County Sheriff's Department, Chief Alex Fagan, San Francisco Police Department, Chief James Butts, Jr., Santa Monica Police Department, Chief Anthony Batts, Long Beach Police Department, Chief Ron Banks, Inglewood Police Department, Chief James M. Lewis, Pomona Police Department, Chief Garry Couso-Vasquez, Montebello Police Department, Chief Bruce Leflar, Maywood Police Department, Chief Robert Todd, South Gate Police Department, Chief Don Pedersen, Signal Hill Police Department, Wayne Hiltz, Acting Chief of Police, Pasadena Police Department, Lt. Dan Buehler, El Monte Police Department, Ralph Boelter, FBI Special Agent in Charge, Violent Crimes, and Deputy Mayor Roberta Yang, on behalf of Mayor James Hahn

The following is the prepared text of Senator Feinstein's statement for the news conference outside LAPD Parker Center Police Headquarters:

"We're here today with a common message: Military-style assault weapons do not belong on America's streets. But if Congress fails to act, the current ban will expire on September 13, 2004. This would be a terrible mistake.

Ten years ago - on July 1, 1993 - Gian Luigi Ferri walked into 101 California Street in San Francisco carrying two high-capacity TEC-9 assault pistols after a decade-long spate of assault weapons killings throughout America. Within minutes, he had murdered eight people, and six others were wounded.

Navegar's advertising for the TEC-9 touted the gun as being for 'paramilitary' use and 'resistant to fingerprints,' with a 'military non-glare finish,' a 'military blowback system,' and 'combat-type' sights.

These guns are the weapons of choice to commit crimes. They are the weapons of choice for drive-by shooters, criminals, grievance killers and even juveniles - all seeking to kill a maximum number of people in the shortest period of time.

That's what makes them so dangerous - they have light triggers, you can hold them at your hip, spray fire and you don't need to aim.

In the aftermath of the 101 California rampage and countless other shootings, I introduced legislation to ban the manufacture and importation of these military style assault weapons.

I remember people taking me aside and saying: 'Don't do it. The gunners are too powerful. You'll never ever win.'

We won. The first national assault weapons ban became law. Since September 13, 1994, it has been illegal to manufacture and import military-style assault weapons.

The hope has been to drive down the supply of these weapons and make them more expensive to obtain over time.

And in the years following, crimes using assault weapons were reduced dramatically, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms:

• In 1993, assault weapons accounted for 8.2 percent of all guns used in crimes;
• By the end of 1995, that proportion had fallen to 4.3 percent - a dramatic drop;
• and by November 1996, the last date for which statistics are available, the proportion dropped to 3.2 percent.

We have had trouble getting updated statistics from this Justice Department, but it is clear that after we banned these guns, they were used less frequently in crime.

Unfortunately, to get the bill passed in 1994, we had to agree to a ten-year sunset. Unless the bill is reauthorized, AK-47s, TEC-9s, and other guns that have but one purpose - to kill other human beings, will once again be manufactured and sold throughout America. We believe that this would have deadly consequences for thousands of people each year.

The new legislation would do two simple things:

First, make the 1994 assault weapons ban permanent - prohibiting the manufacture of 19 types of military style assault weapons - for all time. It would ban an additional group of assault weapons that have been banned by characteristic for 8 years. It would protect some 670 hunting and other recreational rifles for use by law-abiding citizens. And it would preserve the right of police officers and other law enforcement officials to use and obtain newly manufactured semi-automatic assault weapons - helping to prevent instances when law enforcement agents are outgunned by perpetrators.

We certainly would like a stronger bill that would tighten the ban - based on our 10 years of experience of what gun companies have done to get around it. But, unfortunately, there is not the support for that right now. If the support becomes evident, then we may amend the bill at a later date.

Second, the legislation would close a loophole in the 1994 law, which prohibits the domestic manufacture of high-capacity ammunition magazines, but allows foreign companies to continue sending them to this country by the millions.

A measure that would have closed this loophole passed the House and Senate in 1999 by wide margins, but got bottled up due to another provision.

The result: the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms has approved the importation of almost 50 million high capacity ammunition magazines from some 50 countries since 1994.

It is these large clips, drums, and strips that allow lone gunmen, or small groups of teenagers, to inflict so much damage in such a small amount of time. We must close this loophole now.

President Bush said in his campaign that he would sign a straight reauthorization of the assault weapons ban and a closure of the clip importation loophole. And this is exactly the legislation that Senator Schumer and I have introduced.

And the President's spokesman Scott McClellan reiterated his support for reauthorizing the ban when he said: 'The President supports the current law, and he supports reauthorization of the current law.'

We hope President will work with us to see this bill passed.

We welcome the President's support, but we'll need a lot more than words to get this past the NRA and Tom Delay.

And that's why we are here today. To send a message to Congress loud and clear - law enforcement supports the reauthorization of the assault weapons ban.

Now, I am happy to ask Governor Davis to speak in support of this legislation.

California has led the effort in the fight against assault weapons. California passed the nation's first ban on assault weapons in 1989. And under Governor Davis, our State has led the way with the nation's toughest law - banning many of the copycat guns that manufacturers are so good at producing."