[CS-FSLUG] PD: BAN ON ASSAULT WEAPONS DIDN'T REDUCE VIOLENCE

Wed Aug 18 00:00:09 CDT 2004

BAN ON ASSAULT WEAPONS DIDN'T REDUCE VIOLENCE
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
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The federal assault-weapons ban, scheduled to expire in September, is not
responsible for the nation's steady decline in gun-related violence and its
renewal likely will achieve little, according to an independent study
commissioned by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ).

    "We cannot clearly credit the ban with any of the nation's recent drop in
gun violence. And, indeed, there has been no discernible reduction in the
lethality and injuriousness of gun violence," said the unreleased NIJ report,
written by Christopher Koper, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

    "It is thus premature to make definitive assessments of the ban's impact 
on
gun violence. Should it be renewed, the ban's effects on gun violence are 
likely
to be small at best and perhaps too small for reliable measurement," said the
report, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times.

    The report also noted that assault weapons were "rarely used in gun crimes
even before the ban."

    NIJ is the Justice Department's research, development and evaluation 
agency
- assigned the job of providing objective, independent, evidence-based
information to the department through independent studies and other data
collection activities.<B>

    T</B>he assault-weapons ban is set to expire Sept. 13, and at least six
bills reauthorizing it are pending in the Senate and House.

    The issue has sparked nationwide debate: The National Rifle Association 
has
called the ban ineffective in curbing crime and a violation of the Second
Amendment, while gun-control advocates have said the nation's streets will be
filled with automatic weapons if the ban is not reauthorized.

    The assault-weapons ban imposed a 10-year moratorium on the "manufacture,
transfer and possession" of certain semiautomatic firearms designated as 
assault
weapons. It banned 18 models and variations by name, as well as
revolving-cylinder shotguns, and prohibited flash hiders, folding rifle stocks
and threaded barrels for attaching silencers.

    A number of the banned weapons were foreign semiautomatic rifles that have
been barred from importation into the United States since 1989. The ban also
prohibited most ammunition magazines holding more than 10 rounds.

    According to recent surveys by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS),
firearms-related crime has declined to record levels. The violent crime rate 
has
fallen 54 percent since 1993, and there were more than 980,000 fewer violent
crimes in 2002 than in 2000.

    But in the past three years, according to the BJS, federal gun 
prosecutions
have increased by 68 percent, with the number of persons charged with federal
firearms offenses rising by more than 22 percent in fiscal 2003, the largest
single-year increase ever recorded.<B></B>

    The 102-page NIJ report said the assault-weapons ban was intended to 
"reduce
gunshot victimizations by limiting the national stock of semiautomatic 
firearms
with large ammunition capacities," although it said the automatic-weapons
provision of the bill targeted a "relatively small number of weapons" based on
features that had little to do with the weapons' operation.

    The report said the removal of those features, such as detachable
high-capacity magazines, was "sufficient to make the weapons legal."

    In 1994, when the ban was approved by Congress, 1.5 million privately 
owned
assault weapons were thought to be in the United States. The report said 
assault
weapons were used in 2 percent of gun crimes reported nationwide before
enactment of the 1994 ban. It also said assault weapons and other guns 
equipped
with large-capacity magazines accounted for a higher share of the guns used to
kill police officers and in mass public shootings, although such incidents 
were
"very rare."

    The report said the relatively rare use of assault weapons in crimes was
attributable to a number of factors: Most assault weapons are rifles, which 
are
used much less often than handguns, a number of the weapons were barred from
importation before the ban was enacted, and the weapons are expensive and
difficult to conceal.

    "The ban's success in reducing criminal use of the banned guns and 
magazines
has been mixed," the report said, noting that because the ban had not yet
reduced the use of large-capacity magazines in crime, researchers could not
"clearly credit the ban with any of the nation's recent drop in gun violence."

    The report said although the ban's reauthorization or expiration could
affect gunshot victimizations, predictions were "tenuous." It said restricting
the flow of large-capacity magazines into the United States from abroad might 
be
necessary to achieve the ban's desired effects.

    But it said it was not known whether mandating further design changes in 
the
outward features of semiautomatic weapons - such as removing all 
military-style
features - would produce measurable benefits beyond restricting ammunition
capacity.

    Past experience also suggests that congressional discussion of broadening
the assault-weapons ban to new models or features would raise prices and
production of the weapons being considered, the report said, adding that if 
the
ban were lifted, gun and magazine manufacturers could reintroduce weapons and
magazines in substantial numbers. But, the report said, any resulting increase
in crimes with assault weapons and large-capacity magazines might increase
gunshot victimizations, "though this effect could be difficult to measure."

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This article was mailed from The Washington Times
(http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040816-114754-1427r.htm)
For more great articles, visit us at http://www.washingtontimes.com

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