About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

20 U. Dayton L. Rev. 619 (1994-1995)
The Great Assault Weapon Hoax

handle is hein.journals/udlr20 and id is 627 raw text is: THE GREAT ASSAULT WEAPON HOAX Joseph P. Tartaro* I. INTRODUCTION On the morning of September 13, 1994, President William Jefferson Clinton, surrounded by Vice President Gore, members of the Clinton Cabinet, members of both houses of Congress, the mayors of several major cities, and numerous supporters of the legislation among police administrators, signed into law the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. Passage of the bill did not come easily. It involved a combination of preventive and punishment initiatives, most of which were contentious to one group or another. Many civil libertarians opposed the classification of some sixty federal crimes as punishable by the death penalty. Fiscal conservatives denounced the proposed expenditure of over $30 billion which was not actually budgeted by the 103d Congress. Even some mayors and local police administrators demanded changes in the bill to permit them to spend money on equipment and training rather than additional patrol officers--one of the main justifications for the bill. Perhaps one of the most contentious points was the provision which banned the future manufacture, importation, sale and transfer of a whole class of semi-automatic rifles, shotguns and pistols and ammunition magazines of over I 0-round capacity. Described with noticeable artifice as merely a reasonable ban on only nineteen semi-automatic assault weapons, the law bans almost 200 commonly owned firearms, the magazines for most popular modem police and self-defense pistols, and even replicas of the black-powder era 1860 Henry Repeating Rifle. The sweep of the ban came as a surprise to many, including the revelation after passage that the law added people who are under restraining orders to the list of those who are prohibited from buying or possessing any firearm, which had previously been limited to convicted felons, drug and alcohol abusers and mental patients. While the new law, with its grandiose name, will change the nature, character and technology of firearms and ammunition used for civilian self-protection, competition and sport in the future, and will put a number of American craftsman out of work and manufacturers and importers out of business, it will not remove one single firearm from the hands of any criminal. Notwithstanding this, many major newspapers that supported the gun and * President, Second Amendment Foundation. For more information about the Second Amendment Foundation, or to obtain information regarding the assertions contained in this Article, write to the Second Amendment Foundation, James Madison Building, 12500 N.E. Tenth Place, Bellevue, Washington 98005. Phone: (206) 454-7012.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most