From: [c--am--r] at [optilink.COM] (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: ca.politics,talk.politics.misc
Subject: Re: SB 1128: Another Liberal Victimless Crime Law
Date: 2 Aug 93 16:59:52 GMT
In article <[1993 Jul 30 175129 15433] at [pasteur.Berkeley.EDU]>, [b--ck--l] at [scorpio.Berkeley.EDU] (Robert J. Bickel) writes:
> In article <[1--7--3] at [optilink.COM]> [c--am--r] at [optilink.COM] (Clayton Cramer) writes:
> >But your argument for banning high capacity magazines (the goal of
> >SB 1128) is based on mass murder -- where high capacity magazines
> >are a minor issue.
> >
> That is one of my arguments. Another is the problem of gang warfare.
How often are high capacity magazines used in gang warfare? I read
about it, but very seldom.
> Another is the problem of a police officer defending himself against
> such weapon. And there are more.
>
> Rob
Of course, police officers seldom have problems with such weapons.
Police Officers Killed With Assault Rifles
Introduction
One of the arguments repeatedly used both by Handgun Control
and various police organizations to justify bans or
restrictions on assault weapons is that these weapons are
increasingly being used to murder police officers. A review
of the existing literature on the subject shows that, if
there is a problem with so-called "assault weapons", the
problem is greatly overstated, and is principally a problem
of concealable firearms -- not rifles.
Definitions
"Semiautomatic" means that a gun, when fired, will reload
itself and recock the hammer. One bullet is fired for each
pull of the trigger; it is not possible to fire multiple
shots without multiple pulls of the trigger. When
semiautomatic handguns were developed at the turn of the
century, hand-held automatic weapons were not yet in
existence, and the term "automatic pistol" was commonly used
to refer to such handguns. This erroneous terminology is
still in common use today. A more accurate description is
either "semiautomatic" or "autoloading". These sort of
firearms have been in civilian use since before World War I.
"Automatic" means that a gun, when fired, will fire bullets
until the trigger is released, or the magazine is empty.
These sort of firearms have been in civilian use since
shortly after World War I, though severe restrictions on
ownership by both state and federal governments have been in
effect since 1933, with passage of the Federal Firearms Act,
and the National Firearms Act.
"Assault rifle" has acquired several different meanings.
The traditional meaning of this term refers to a rifle
intended for battlefield use, capable of both semiautomatic
and automatic fire. Because of carelessness by gun magazine
writers, the term "assault rifle" has also come to be
applied to semiautomatic-only rifles which are derived from,
and which have substantial parts interchangeability with
true assault rifles. Functionally, these weapons are
indistinguishable from semiautomatic hunting weapons like
the Remington 7400 or Ruger Mini-14. The only rule that
seems to clearly distinguish between "assault rifles" and
"semiautomatic detachable magazine hunting rifles" is that
hunting rifles have wood stocks, and "assault rifles" have
either black plastic or folding stocks.
"Machine pistol" refers to a class of weapons which are
legally considered pistols (short barrels, no buttstock,
intended to be fired one handed). Originally designed as
full automatic weapons, many have been redesigned as
semiautomatic weapons. The term "machine pistol" is used
rather carelessly to refer to both semiautomatic and
automatic weapons. Unlike conventional handguns, "machine
pistols" are larger, bulkier, and usually come with very
large magazines, capable of holding 20-40 rounds. They are
only marginally concealable on the person.
"Assault weapon" is a term used in a number of laws passed
in the United States in the last two years. This term
includes many of the semiautomatic "assault rifles"
mentioned above, semiautomatic "machine pistols", and a
small number of semiautomatic shotguns. From place to
place, the definition varies. The Ruger Mini-14, for no
apparent reason, is not usually considered an "assault
weapon", even though it has a removable magazine, functions
reliably with 30 round magazines in it, and shoots the same
cartridge as the Colt AR-15 and the H&K 93, which are
considered "assault weapons". Weird.
"Assault pistol" is a term used by Handgun Control, Inc. to
both refer to semiautomatic machine pistols, and to the
conventional high capacity 9mm pistols which have become
increasingly popular with police departments, criminals, and
law-abiding citizens. It is a term that appears intended to
confuse by its vagueness, much like "Saturday night
special".
"Removable magazine", "detachable magazine", "clip": these
are all different terms for a box or drum which is designed
to be easily removed and replaced with another such magazine
in the midst of a gunfight. Detachable magazines have been
common in handguns since the turn of the century, and have
been in common use in hunting rifles since at least the
1950s.
The Sources Used For This Report
As part of the Uniform Crime Reports program, the FBI
provides an annual report concerning police officers
assaulted or murdered during the course of the preceeding
calendar year, throughout the United States. This includes
local, state, territorial, and federal police officers,
including DEA & FBI agents. In addition to the statistical
information, a capsule description is included of each
incident in which a police officer was feloniously killed.
At the time this was written, the 1989 report had not been
distributed.
Ambiguities Regarding Assault Weapons
Regrettably, police murder firearms are not described in the
FBI reports in adequate detail to always determine if a
weapon would be an "assault weapon" by the rather flexible
definitions in common use. Especially in the case of those
weapons classified as "machine pistols", it would appear
that either the distinction is not consistently maintained
in the FBI reports, or the number of "machine pistols" used
against police officers during 1986-88 is one -- an incident
on September 22, 1986, in which a New York City Transit
Authority police officer was murdered.
In the case of rifles, the definitional problem is less
severe. The "assault rifles" which have been banned in
California, and which proposed Federal legislation would
ban, are in the following calibers: .223, .308, 9mm, and
7.62x39mm. There are hunting rifles in .223 and .308, but
it is usually impossible, based on the FBI reports, to
determine whether the rifle used was a hunting rifle, or an
"assault rifle". We will assume for the purposes of
discussion that any rifle described as "semiautomatic" in
these calibers is an "assault rifle" -- and recognize that
this will tend to overstate the use of the assault rifles to
be banned.
Assault Weapons Use In Police Officer Murders
The attached table is derived from Table 3, p. 12 of the
1988 FBI report on police officers murdered. The column
labelled "Assault Rifles" is derived from the summaries
contained within the reports 1986-88, and includes the
assumptions mentioned above, which will tend to overstate
the use of assault rifles. The column ".22 Rifles" is
derived from Table 4 ("Law Enforcement Officers Feloniously
Killed, Type and Size of Firearm") of each year's report.
The column "Own Gun" includes police officers killed with
their own guns (again from Table 4 of each report) --
frequently by criminals who weren't even armed until they
disarmed the police officer.
Notes & Exclusions On "Assault Rifle" Category
1986
On p. 26, a police officer murdered in Torrance, CA on April
17th, with an "M-1 carbine rifle" is excluded from this
category because the M-1 carbine, while banned under
California law (at least if made by Plainfield Mfg. Co.), is
not subject to ban under the proposed Federal laws.
On p. 27, the two FBI agents murdered on April 11th in
Miami, FL are excluded because the ".223-caliber
semiautomatic rifle" used is known to be a Ruger Mini-14 --
not an "assault weapon" under either California law, or the
proposed Federal legislation.
1987
These six murders involve a total of five incidents. On p.
25 of the 1987 report is the nationally reported Palm Bay,
FL, shopping plaza killings, in which two police officers
were killed.
On p. 28 is an incident in which three Inkster, MI police
officers were killed, though it appears that only one of the
officers was shot with a ".223-caliber rifle". According to
the summary, "the two patrolmen were overpowered and
disarmed", and were subsequently found, "handcuffed and shot
to death". This suggests that the two patrolmen were killed
with the handguns possessed by the criminals.
On p. 29 is a murder committed with a ".223-caliber fully
automatic rifle". This is the only automatic weapon murder
listed in these three years of reports -- which suggests
that if it is actually that easy to convert an "assault
rifle" to a full automatic, not many criminals are using
such illegally converted weapons against police officers.
1988
On p. 31 is a murder committed on Februrary 12th in Lansing
Park, MI. The weapon is described as a ".44-magnum
semiautomatic rifle". None of the proposed bans include
such weapons.
.22 Rimfire Rifles
The reason for the column listed above is very simple. The
California Assault Weapons Ban, and all the proposed Federal
bans, specifically exclude .22 rimfire rifles from the bans.
As can be seen, .22 rimfire rifles were used nearly as often
to murder police officers in the period 1986-88 as "assault
rifles".
Summary
The weapons used to murder police officers are depressingly
ordinary, not exotic guns only seen in movies. Contrary to
some of the recent propaganda that claims that police
officers are being outgunned by criminals with high capacity
handguns, p. 4 of the 1988 report asserts:
The most common types of handguns used against officers
in 1988 were the .38 caliber and the .357 magnum.
These two weapons jointly accounted for more than half
of the handgun deaths.
With a few rare exceptions, handguns in .38 and .357 magnum
calibers are revolvers -- quite similar to the handguns
still issued by most police departments in the United
States.
As can be seen from the table above, "assault rifles" were
used in no more than 5% of the police officer murders in the
years 1986-88; they were not even a majority of the murders
committed with rifles. Indeed, a police officer is almost
four times more likely to be murdered with his own gun than
to be murdered with an "assault rifle". The question might
be asked whether the costs of enforcing the proposed bans
would be better spent on improving weapons retention
training for police officers.
--------
Clayton Cramer is a software engineer with a Northern
California telecommunications manufacturer.
Year,Total,Handgun,Rifle,Shotgun,Total Firearms,Knife,Bomb,Personal Weapons,Other,Assault Rifles,.22 Rifles,Own Gun
1986, 66, 51, 8, 3, 62,0,0,0, 4, 0,4,15
1987, 74, 49, 9, 9, 67,3,0,0, 4, 6,3,13
1988, 78, 62,12, 2, 76,0,0,0, 2, 5,2,12
Total,218,162,29,14,205,3,0,0,10,11,9,40
--
Clayton E. Cramer {uunet,pyramid}!optilink!cramer My opinions, all mine!
The California Bar Association wants lawyers added to the list of groups
given special protection by "hate crime" laws. Did I miss something? Since
when have $75/hour lawyers become oppressed minorities?