Assault Weapons and Other Military-Style Weapons

THE TOP 10 NRA MYTHS ABOUT ASSAULT WEAPONS

The Federal law banning the sale of semiautomatic assault weapons, known as the Federal Assault Weapons Act, was passed as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. President Clinton signed it into law on September 13, 1994.  However, the law only passed with a 10 year “sunset” provision requiring the law to be reauthorized in 2004.

Although the Assault Weapons Act dramatically reduced the incidence of assault weapons traced to crime (click here to see the evidence), Congress did not reauthorize it, and President Bush allowed the Assault President Bush to expire in September 2004.  Until it is renewed, firearms including Uzis, AK-47s and other semiautomatic assault weapons are once again flooding into our neighborhoods as the weapons of choice for gang members, drug dealers and other dangerous criminals.

The Act also banned the manufacture of high-capacity ammunition magazines (more than 10 rounds), which are again more plentiful following the statute’s expiration in 2004.

The National Rifle Association's worked tirelessly to block renewal of the Federal Assault Weapons Act.  The NRA has engaged in a systematic campaign of distortion and deception about assault weapons and their dangers.  Here we have exposed the Top 10 NRA myths about assault weapons.

NRA Myth #1: There is no such thing as a semiautomatic assault weapon.

Response: Wrong. The guns covered by the Assault Weapons Act are semiautomatic versions of fully automatic guns designed for military use. Whereas an automatic weapon (machine gun) will continue to fire as long as the trigger is depressed (or until the ammunition magazine is emptied), a semiautomatic weapon will fire one round and instantly load the next round with each pull of the trigger. Even semiautomatic assault weapons can be fired with extraordinary speed. When San Jose, California, police test-fired an Uzi, a 30-round magazine was emptied in slightly less than two seconds on full automatic, while the same magazine was emptied in just five seconds on semiautomatic.

Playing word games, the NRA often claims that the only true "assault weapons" are guns that can be fired in the fully automatic mode and that fully automatic guns have been strictly controlled since 1934. The NRA's efforts to mislead the public in this regard, however, have been exposed by the gun industry's own experts, who have used the term "assault weapons" to describe military-style semiautomatic firearms. For example, in 1989, Gun Digest, considered by many to be the Bible of the gun industry, published The Gun Digest Book of Assault Weapons. In the book's introduction, the author stated:

"[T]here will always be a place for what are collectively termed assault weapons. ... Most of them are effective for the type of warfare for which they have been designed: close range assault work. That's where firepower is a necessity either to make the enemy keep his head down so you can maneuver or, more permanently, to remove him from the action. ... There is also an element of the civilian population that is showing an increasing interest in this type of weaponry. The vast majority of these shooters and gunowners purchase assault-type weapons limited to semiautomatic fire."¹

The gun industry has also used the term "assault" weapon as a selling point to urge civilians to buy semiautomatic versions of machine guns. For example, Intratec, which made the infamous TEC assault pistols banned by name in the Federal statute, advertised its line of semiautomatic pistols in magazines such as Soldier of Fortune, Combat Handguns, and S.W.A.T. this way in 1989: "At two-thirds the weight (and price) of an Uzi, the TEC-9 series clearly stands out among high capacity 9mm assault-type pistols."²

NRA Myth #2: Firearms covered by the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban have only "cosmetic" differences from thousands of other semiautomatic firearms.

Response: Wrong. Sporting rifles and assault weapons are two distinct classes of firearms. While semiautomatic hunting rifles are designed to be fired from the shoulder and depend upon the accuracy of a precisely aimed projectile, the military features of semiautomatic assault weapons are designed to enhance their capacity to shoot multiple targets very rapidly. For example, assault weapons are typically equipped with large-capacity ammunition magazines that allow the shooter to fire 20, 50, or even more than 100 rounds without having to reload. Pistol grips on assault rifles and shotguns help stabilize the weapon during rapid fire and allow the shooter to spray-fire from the hip position. Barrel shrouds on assault pistols protect the shooter's hands from the heat generated by firing many rounds in rapid succession. A folding stock on a rifle or shotgun sacrifice accuracy for concealability and for mobility in close combat. Far from being simply "cosmetic," these features all contribute to the unique function of any assault weapon to deliver extraordinary firepower. They are uniquely military features, with no sporting purpose whatsoever.

As the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ("ATF") has explained:

"Assault weapons were designed for rapid fire, close quarter shooting at human beings. That is why they were put together the way they were. You will not find these guns in a duck blind or at the Olympics. They are mass produced mayhem." ³

ATF has also described semiautomatic assault weapons as "large capacity, semi-automatic firearms designed and configured for rapid fire, combat use. ... Most are patterned after machine guns used by military forces. They have distinct features which separate them from sporting firearms."⁴ Accordingly, ATF has concluded that assault weapons "are not generally recognized as particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes" and instead "are attractive to certain criminals."⁵

NRA Myth #3: Assault weapons are rarely used in crime.

Response: Not true. Crime gun traces performed by ATF showed that between 1986 and 1992, assault weapons were traced to 1,578 murders, 940 assaults, 224 robberies, and more than 4,500 narcotics arrests.6 Because only a fraction of the guns used in crime are traced by the ATF, these figures understate the criminal use of these guns. The real number of crimes committed with assault weapons may be up to ten times higher.7 Moreover, before the Federal ban, assault weapons were used in some of the worst mass murders ever committed in the United States. For example:

The McDonald's shooting - On July 18, 1984, James Huberty killed 21 people and wounded 19 others in a San Ysidro, California, McDonald's using an UZI assault pistol and a shotgun.⁸

The Stockton schoolyard massacre - On January 17, 1989, Patrick Purdy killed 5 small children and wounded 29 others and a teacher at the Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, California, using a semiautomatic AK-47 assault rifle imported from China. That weapon had been purchased from a gun dealer in Oregon and was equipped with a 75-round "drum" magazine. Purdy shot 106 rounds in less than 2 minutes.⁹

The Louisville, Kentucky, workplace massacre - On September 14, 1989, Joseph Wesbecker killed 7 people and wounded 13 others at his former place of work in Louisville, Kentucky, before taking his own life. Mr. Wesbecker was armed with an AK-47 rifle, two MAC-11 assault pistols, and a duffle-bag full of ammunition.¹⁰

The CIA headquarters shootings - On January 25, 1993, Pakistani national Mir Aimal Kasi killed 2 CIA employees and wounded 3 others outside the entrance to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Kasi used a Chinese-made semiautomatic AK-47 assault rifle equipped with a 30-round magazine purchased from a Northern Virginia gun store.¹¹

The Branch-Davidian standoff in Waco, Texas - On February 28, 1993, while attempting to serve Federal search and arrest warrants at the Branch-Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, four ATF special agents were killed and 16 others were wounded with an arsenal of assault weapons. According to a Federal affidavit, the cult had accumulated at least the following assault weapons: 123 AR-15s, 44 AK-47s, 2 Barrett .50 calibers, 2 Street Sweepers, an unknown number of MAC-10 and MAC-11s, 20 100-round drum magazines, and 260 large-capacity banana clips. The weapons were bought legally from gun dealers and at gun shows.¹²

The San Francisco Pettit & Martin shootings - On July 1, 1993, Gian Luigi Ferri killed 8 people and wounded 6 others at the San Francisco law offices of Pettit & Martin and other offices at 101 California Street. Ferri used two TEC-DC9 assault pistols with 50-round magazines. These weapons had been purchased from a pawnshop and a gun show in Nevada.¹³

The firepower of assault weapons makes them especially desired by violent criminals and especially lethal in their hands. Prior to the Act, although assault weapons constituted less than 1% of the guns in circulation,¹⁴ they were a far higher percentage of the guns used in crime. ATF's analysis of guns traced to crime showed that assault weapons "are preferred by criminals over law abiding citizens eight to one. ... Access to them shifts the balance of power to the lawless."¹⁵

The NRA and its supporters have cited Justice Department studies based on surveys of state and Federal prisoners to claim that assault weapons are used in only 2% of crimes nationally. These studies, however, actually confirm the disproportionate use of assault weapons in crime. More than 80% of these prisoners used no firearm in the commission of their crimes. Within the category of inmates who used guns to commit crimes, semiautomatic assault weapons were actually used in 6.8% of state prosecutions and 9.3% of Federal prosecutions.¹⁶ Both percentages are much higher than the estimated 1% of guns in circulation that are assault weapons.¹⁷ They are also far higher than the misleading 2% figure cited continually by the NRA.

NRA Myth #4: The Federal Assault Weapons ban had no effect on crime.

Response: Not true. Following enactment of the Assault Weapons Act, the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice conducted a study, mandated by the Act, of the short-term impact on crime of the assault weapons ban. The study, published in 1999, found that the ban had "clear short-term effects on the gun market," leading to semiautomatic assault weapons "becom[ing] less accessible to criminals because there was at least a short-term decrease in criminal use of the banned weapons."¹⁸

According to the study, ATF data showed that crime gun traces of assault weapons dropped 20% in the year following enactment of the Assault Weapons Act, from 4,077 assault weapon traces in 1994 to 3,268 in 1995. This 20% drop in assault weapon traces was double the 10% overall decline in the gun murder rate that year, suggesting that, at least in the short-term, the ban reduced the use of assault weapons in crime. Moreover, murder rates dropped 6.7% below what the rates were projected to be without the ban, once researchers isolated the impact of the Assault Weapons Act by accounting for other factors such as murder trends, demographic and economic changes, a Federal juvenile handgun possession ban, and state initiatives.¹⁹

The National Institute of Justice study also found further evidence that the national decrease in assault weapons traced to crime was an effect of the ban. Assault weapon traces from states that already had their own assault weapons bans dropped only an estimated 6-8% in 1995, suggesting that the national downward trend in assault weapons traces reflects the effect of the Federal ban.²⁰

NRA Myth #5: ATF crime gun trace data does not show the Assault Weapons Ban to be effective.

Response: Wrong. According to a study published by the Brady Center called, On Target: The Impact of the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Act, the Federal ban has reduced the incidence of assault weapons use in crime.²¹ In the five year period (1990-1994) before enactment of the Federal Assault Weapons Act, assault weapons named in the Act constituted 4.82% of the crime gun traces ATF conducted nationwide. Since the law's enactment, however, these assault weapons have made up only 1.61% of the guns ATF has traced to crime - a drop of 66% from the pre-ban rate. Moreover, ATF trace data show a steady year-by-year decline in the percentage of assault weapons traced, suggesting that the longer the statute has been in effect, the less available these guns have become for criminal misuse. Indeed, the absolute number of assault weapons traced has also declined during a period when the number of ATF crime gun traces almost tripled.

The On Target study also concluded that if the Act had not been passed and the banned assault weapons continued to make up the same percentage of crime gun traces as before the Act's passage, approximately 60,000 additional assault weapons would have been traced to crime in the last 10 years - an average of 6,000 additional assault weapons traced to crime each year. Former ATF officials at Crime Gun Solutions, LLC, including the former Special Agent in Charge of ATF's National Tracing Center, analyzed the data for the Brady Center and support the study's conclusions.

This analysis is based on crime gun trace data compiled by ATF of more than 1.4 million crime guns recovered across the United States between 1990 and 2001. Contrary to the NRA's claim that traced guns may have no connection with crime, ATF itself has said that traced guns are "crime guns," which means they have been "illegally possessed, used in a crime, or suspected of having been used in a crime."²² The sheer size of the crime gun trace data - 1.4 million guns and counting - also rebuts the idea that the trace data does not provide a meaningful sample of guns used in crime. As the National Institute of Justice researchers found, two cities that comprehensively traced firearms before the ban took effect - Boston and St. Louis - showed similar post-ban declines in the percentage of assault weapons they traced to crime. This supports the conclusion that the drop in assault weapon use in crime was attributable to the ban and not to any potential biases in trace request data.²³ The conclusions in the On Target study are similar to an analysis of assault weapons traced to crime done for United States Senators Dianne Feinstein and Charles Schumer.²⁴

NRA Myth #6: Assault weapons pose no special threat to law enforcement.

Response: False. In the 1980s and early 1990s, law enforcement reported that assault weapons were the "weapons of choice" for drug traffickers, gangs, terrorists, and paramilitary extremist groups that they often faced in violent encounters. As Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton said recently:

There is a reason that these weapons are so appealing to criminals. They are designed to be easily concealed and kill as many people as possible as quickly as possible. Congress must act and act now to protect the American public and our police officers from these deadly weapons. This is about public safety and law enforcement.²⁵

Because of their high firepower, assault weapons in the hands of criminals leave the police badly outgunned. Congress acted to ban these guns in 1994 after learning of the tragic consequences of these guns for our nation's law enforcement officers.²⁶  For example:

Manassas, VA, July 24, 1988 - Five Manassas City police officers responded to a call about shots being fired in a quiet Washington, DC suburb. The gunman, armed with an AR-15 assault weapon, opened fire on Sergeant John D. Connors III, hitting him in the head, chest, arm, and leg. He became the first officer killed in the line of duty in the department's 113 year history.²⁷

Los Angeles, CA, September 3, 1988 - Los Angeles Police Officer Daniel Pratt was following a vehicle suspected to have been involved in an earlier drive-by shooting when approximately 30 rounds were fired at his police car by gang members armed with an AR-15. Pratt was shot in the face and pronounced dead at the hospital. Three children and his wife, pregnant with their fourth child, survived him.²⁸

Dallas, TX, December 13, 1988 - A 17-year veteran senior corporal with the Dallas Police Department was killed while making an undercover cocaine purchase. The officer was killed when the assailant pulled a TEC-9 assault pistol from under his coat and fired seven shots.²⁹

Dayton, OH, March 21, 1991 - A 15 year veteran of the Dayton police force, William "Steve" Whalen, was shot and killed by a mentally ill man armed with an AR-15. The deranged suspect had been pursued by two officers for firing shots at a local motel. Upon being pulled over, the suspect sprayed the officers with fire, killing Whalen and wounding Lt. Randy Beane.³⁰

Northridge, CA, February 22, 1994 - Officer Christy Lynne Hamilton of the Los Angeles Police Department was gunned down with an AR-15 assault rifle by a teenager who had already used the gun to kill his father. Officer Hamilton graduated from the Police Academy three days prior to the shooting.³¹

For these reasons, law enforcement has been united in support of banning these weapons. Every major national law enforcement organization in the country supported the Federal Assault Weapons Act and worked for its passage. The police groups fighting to save the statute include the Fraternal Order of Police, International Association of Chiefs of Police, Major Cities Chiefs, International Brotherhood of Police Officers, Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association, National Black Police Association, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, Police Executive Research Forum, and Police Foundation.

NRA Myth #7: Even without the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, AK-47s and UZIs won't flood our neibhborhoods because they are covered by the Import Ban.

Response: False. Prior to passage of the Federal assault weapons ban, the importation of certain types of assault weapons from overseas was banned during the Reagan and George H.W. Bush Administrations. Such bans were ordered by ATF under the 1968 Gun Control Act, which bans the importation of guns that are not "particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes."³²

Under the Reagan Administration, ATF blocked the importation of certain models of shotguns that were not suitable for sporting purposes. In 1989, during the George H.W. Bush Administration, ATF expanded this list to permanently ban the importation of 43 types of semiautomatic assault rifles that were also determined to have no sporting purpose. Later, in 1998, President Clinton banned the importation of 58 additional foreign-made "copycat" assault weapons in order to close a loophole in the prior import ban.³³

Even though these import restrictions have not expired, they do not affect the domestic production of assault weapons.  After the Federal ban lapsed, it is again legal to manufacture AK-47s, Uzis, and other assault weapons domestically.  Similarly, a domestic Saturday Night Special industry sprung up overnight once Congress banned importation of the low-quality pistols in 1968 after one was used to assassinate Robert Kennedy.³⁴

NRA Myth #8: Assault weapons, and high-capacity magazines that were banned at the same time, are needed for self-defense.

Response: False. As explained above, assault weapons utilize military features useful in combat, but which have no civilian purpose. Assault weapons are exceedingly dangerous if used in self defense, because the bullets many of the weapons fire are designed to pass through humans and will pass through structures, and therefore pose a heightened risk of hitting innocent bystanders. As Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police has explained: "An AK-47 fires a military round. In a conventional home with dry-wall walls, I wouldn't be surprised if it went through six of them."37 No one would want a bullet fired in self defense to penetrate a home's walls, where it could strike bystanders in neighboring homes.

High capacity magazines containing more than 10 rounds, which were also banned as part of the Federal Assault Weapons Act, are also not useful for self defense, as law enforcement expert Leonard J. Supenski has testified:

"The typical self-defense scenario in a home does not require more ammunition than is available in a standard 6-shot revolver or 6-10 round semiautomatic pistol. In fact, because of potential harm to others in the household, passersby, and bystanders, too much firepower is a hazard. Indeed, in most self-defense scenarios, the tendency is for defenders to keep firing until all bullets have been expended."³⁶

Assault weapons were designed for military use. They have no legitimate use as self defense weapons.

NRA Myth #9: The Federal Assault Weapons Ban is unconstitutional.

Response: Wrong. The Federal ban has been challenged in court by the NRA and members of the gun industry. However, Federal courts have rejected all legal challenges to the law.

In October 2000, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge brought by notorious assault weapon manufacturer Navegar, Inc. d/b/a Intratec, after the case had been dismissed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.37 The Circuit Court had rejected Navegar's arguments that the statute exceeded the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce and constituted an unconstitutional bill of attainder.

The NRA also brought its own lawsuit against the statute in Michigan Federal court, but was dismissed by the court for lack of standing to sue. Assault weapon maker Olympic Arms continued the suit, which was dismissed by a Federal judge in March of 2000. On appeal, the ruling was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in August 2002.³⁸

Even though the NRA repeatedly has claimed that the Federal Assault Weapons Act violates the Second Amendment, it have never brought a Second Amendment challenge to the law in court, and did not raise the Second Amendment when it filed suit in Michigan to try to strike down the ban.

NRA Myth #10: The Federal Assault Weapons Ban is just the first step on a slippery slope to ban all guns in America.

Response: Wrong. There is no hidden agenda behind saving the Federal Assault Weapons Act. As explained above, assault weapons are a well-defined set of firearms designed for military combat, not civilian use. Moreover, the original Act specifically exempted 661 rifles and shotguns from its reach.³⁹ Renewal of the assault weapons law is needed to protect our communities and prevent a return to the mass shootings and increasing gun crime in the period before the Federal ban was passed.

 

Endnotes

1. Gun Digest Book of Assault Weapons (Jack Lewis, ed., 2d ed. 1989) at 5 (emphasis added).
2. Petersen's Handguns (March 1989).
3. ATF, Assault Weapons Profile, at 19 (1994) (emphasis added).
4. ATF, Assault Weapons Profile, at 20.
5. Dep't of Treasury, Study on the Sporting Suitability of Modified Semiautomatic Assault Rifles, at 38 (1998).
6. 140 Cong. Rec. H3079 (statement of Rep. Lazio).
7. See H.R. Rep. No. 102-242, pt. 1, at 203 (1991).
8. Satellite College Campus Helps to Heal the Scars at San Ysidro Massacre, Los Angeles Times, March 30, 1989; A 77-Minute Moment in History That Will Never Be Forgotten, Los Angeles Times, July 16, 1989.
9. School Killer's Last Days and The Kinds of Guns School Killer Used, San Francisco Chronicle, January 19, 1989.
10. "Rampage in Louisville," Atlanta Constitution, September 15, 1989.
11. "CIA Killings Prompt Scrutiny on 2 Fronts; Fairfax Loophole Expedited Gun Purchase," Washington Post, February 11, 1993.
12. "Cult's Massive Weapons Purchases Stir Up a Furor Over Federal Regulation," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, May 2, 1993.
13. "Ferri Used Guns That California Ban Does Not Forbid," San Francisco Examiner, July 4, 1993.
14. Marianne Zawitz, Guns Used in Crime, U.S. Dep't of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (1995) at 6.
15. ATF, Assault Weapons Profile, at 19-20.
16. NIJ, Firearm Use By Offenders (2001) at 2-3.
17. See supra n. 15.
18. Jeffrey A. Roth and Christopher S. Koper, Impacts of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban: 1994-96, at 1, 9 U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice 1999 available at: www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/173405.pdf).
19. Id. at 6, 9.
20. Id. at 6-7.
21. The On Target study is available at www.gunlawsuits.org.
22. ATF, The Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative, Crime Gun Trace Analysis Reports: The Illegal Youth Firearms Market in 27 Communities, at 5 (1999).
23. Id.
24. See report released on November 5, 2003, accessible at http://feinstein.senate.gov/03Releases/r-assaultwepsrate1.htm.
25. Mayor Hahn, Chief Bratton Unite With Leaders Across Country To Demand Renewal Of Assault Weapons Ban, release accessed at www.lacity.org (Apr. 27, 2004).
26. See H.R. Rep. No. 103-489, at 14-15 (citing testimony about several assault weapons shootings).
27. "First Manassas Officer Killed in Line of Duty," The Washington Post, March 20, 1989.
28. Officer Slain Responding to Drive-By Gang Shooting", The Los Angeles Times, September 5, 1988.
29. "Gunfire Over Foiled Drug Deal Kills Dallas Officer, Suspect", The Houston Chronicle, Dec. 14, 1988.
30. "An Officer Falls", Dayton Daily News, March 23, 1991.
31. Cops Under Fire: Law Enforcement Officers Killed With Assault Weapons or Guns With High Capacity Magazines, Handgun Control, Inc. (now the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence) (1995) at 1.
32. On March 21, 1989, ATF announced a temporary suspension of the importation of five assault weapons. On March 29, 1989, ATF expanded the scope of the suspension to cover all assault weapons "indistinguishable in design, appearance and function to the original five" and established a working group to decide whether to make this import ban permanent. On March 30, 1989, a gun importer challenged ATF's authority to suspend the importation of these weapons. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld ATF's authority to issue the import suspensions. Gun South, Inc. v. Brady, 877 F.2d 858 (11th Cir. 1989). ATF then issued its working group report and, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 925(d)(3), made the import ban permanent. ATF, Report and Recommendation of the ATF Working Group on the Importability of Certain Semiautomatic Rifles (July 6, 1989).
33. In April 1998, ATF determined that the 1989 ban on the importation of assault rifles remained valid and expanded the import ban to include rifles with the "ability to accept a detachable large capacity military magazine" because those weapons "cannot fairly be characterized as sporting rifles." ATF, Department of the Treasury Study on the Sporting Suitability of Modified Semiautomatic Assault Rifles (April 1998).
34. Garen Wintemute, Ring of Fire: The Handgun Makers of Southern California, Violence Prevention Research Program, Sacramento, CA (1994).
35. "Police Fear a Future of Armored Enemies", USA Today, March 3, 1997.
36. Declaration of Leonard J. Supenski in Support of Plaintiffs' Joint Opposition to Navegar, Inc.'s Motion for Summary Judgment or, in the Alternative, Summary Adjudication, In re 101 California Street Bldg., No. 959316 (Sup. Ct. Cal. 1996) at 8.
36. Navegar, Inc. v. U.S., 192 F.3d 1050 (D.C. Cir. 1999), cert. Denied, 121 S. Ct. 53 (2000).
37. National Rifle Ass'n of America v. Magaw, 132 F.3d 272 (6th Cir. 1997).
38. 18 U.S.C. §922(v), Appendix A.