From firearms-alert-owner Thu Sep 1 15:07:55 1994 Received: from localhost (chan@localhost) by jobe.shell.portal.com (8.6.4/8.6.5) id PAA22632 for firearms-alert-outgoing; Thu, 1 Sep 1994 15:06:26 -0700 Received: from nova.unix.portal.com (nova.unix.portal.com [156.151.1.101]) by jobe.shell.portal.com (8.6.4/8.6.5) with ESMTP id PAA22626 for ; Thu, 1 Sep 1994 15:06:24 -0700 Received: from gatekeeper.esl.com (gatekeeper.esl.com [129.193.146.11]) by nova.unix.portal.com (8.6.7/8.6.4) with SMTP id PAA06013 for ; Thu, 1 Sep 1994 15:06:20 -0700 Received: from smtp.esl.com (smtpout.esl.com) by gatekeeper.esl.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA20935; Thu, 1 Sep 94 15:05:44 PDT Message-Id: Date: 1 Sep 1994 14:59:11 -0700 From: "Johann Opitz" Subject: DiFi letter to WSJ To: "Firearms Alert" , "Liberty Net" X-Mailer: Mail*Link SMTP-QM 3.0.1 GM Sender: firearms-alert-owner@shell.portal.com Precedence: bulk Status: RO reposted from Newsgroup talk.politics.guns ===== >From the letters section of the WSJ. The letter is in response to the recent WSJ editorial on AW's, which pointed out that they're basically irrelevant, and that the Mini-14 is functionally indistinguishable from the AR-15. Have fun, point out the leaps in reasoning and errors of fact! -- 9/1/94 Nearly every police and law enforcement organization in this country has played a key role in Congress approving a ban on military-style assault weapons. The reason is clear: cops and children are getting killed every day. Imagine my surprise when you used outdated and incorrect infomration in your criticism of the assault weapons banned by the crime bill ("What is An Assault Weapon?" Review & Outlook, AUg 25). Let me set the record straight. First, the 19 fast-firing, military style assault weapons banned by name in the crime bill are the most notorious and dangerous on our streets, according to law enfocement officers. The include: the Cold AR-15 used to kill a rookie LAPD officer earlier this year, the TEC-DC9 used to kill eight and wound six at a San Francisco law firm last July, and the AK-47 designed for the Soviet military, but used by a madman to kill five children and injure 29 others in a Stockton, Calif,. schoolyard in 1989. Second, the police who face these guns don't care what they look like, they care how they shoot. The Colt AR-15, mentioned in your editorial, has every combat feature of the M-16 combat rifle, which is standard issue to our infantry now. Soldiers need a pistol grip to spray-fire from the hip without aiming. Soldiers need a collapsible stock when the conceal themselves in guerrilla warfare. Soldiers need a bayonet mount and a flash suppressor so the enemy can't see them fire at night. There's a reason soldiers have these weapons. There's no reason, however, that cop-killers and grievance killers need unfettered access to weapons that leave their victims little chance for survival. Third, police departments report that, more and more, assault weapons are being confiscated from criminals and drug dealers. While you cite 1988 New York City statistics to allege that these guns are not prevalent, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms reports otherwise. Let's look at just one type of assault pistol named in the legislation: the TEC-9 and nearly identical TEC-DC9. In 1993 alone, 454 TEC-9s and 617 DEC-DC9s were traced to gun crimes by the Bureau of Alcholol, Tobacco and Firearms. Chicago Police report that well over 300 TEC-9s turned up last year just in their city. The lesislation that the president will soon sign into law specifically protects by name 650 legitimate hunting and sporting guns used today and exempts by category leterally hundreds of others. It will stop the future manufacture of the most deadly assault weapons sold today and of clips that hold more than 10 bullets. Today, criminals with easy access to these rapid-fire killing machines and to deadly clips that hold 30, 50, or even 100 bullets, pin down our outgunned police and leave unarmed civilians no chance to escape deranged grievance killers. Cops on the line and the families of those killed by assault weapons have given the best and most compelling testimony about the need to stop the free flow of these weapons to our streets. the lesislation jus approved by Congress was carefully drafted in consultation with law enforcement. No ownder nearly every police department and every law enfocement organization supported the bill and helped make it the law. SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D, Calif) -- Don McGregor | Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, mcgredo@crl.com| Where ignorant armies clash by night. ===== == Johann Opitz e-mail: johann_opitz@smtp.esl.com == == All Disclaimers Apply (so as to protect my employer) ==