From: [b--o--h] at [mdd.comm.mot.com] (Greg Booth)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns
Subject: "Paramilitary Firearms"
Date: 3 Jan 1994 09:03:15 -0800
12. Paramilitary Firearms
o There are approximately 247,000 legally owned fully automatic
weapons (Assault rifles, machine guns, sub machine guns) in
the USA, according to the BATF, in the years since 1934, only
ONE of these weapons has been used by their legal owner in a
criminal offence. A Dayton, Ohio police officer performed a
contract killing with one.
o There are approximately 5,000 legally owned fully automatic
weapons (Assault rifles, machine guns, submachine guns) in
Canada, yet since 1934 NONE of these weapons has been used by
their legal owner in a criminal offence.
o In a paper presented to the Royal Society in 1663, Palmer
described the theory of operation used by modern machine guns,
both recoil and gas-operated. In 1718, Puckle was granted a
patent on an automatic weapon. Multiple-barrel weapons, which
Palmer's and Puckle's weren't, were developed centuries
earlier. Some of these earlier guns also used a rather clever
way of getting multiple shots from the same barrel without
reloading. Revolvers had also been invented by the 1770s and
the Brits actually used semi-autos against the colonials.
o Bolt action and lever action rifles are convertible to be
fully automatic weapons. At the turn of the century John
Browning's first machine gun was converted from a lever action
rifle. During World War One, the factory in Canada converted
the Ross bolt action rifle into the Huot machine gun. During
World War Two in New Zealand, 2000 Lee Enfield bolt action
rifles were converted into the Charlton light machine gun.
o In 1990 the state of Florida, faced with increasing pressure
to condemn "assault weapons," assembled a commission to study
the evidence and then issue a report to the governor and
legislature.
The panel, comprised of lawmakers, citizens, representatives
from both pro- and anti-gun groups and law enforcement
officials, spent several months examining data supplied by
both state and federal law enforcement agencies. The group
also heard testimony from Florida police officers who work
within some of the region's worst criminal battle zones.
Early this spring the commission announced the results of
their labors, with the findings mirroring similar studies
conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
(BATF). In summary, the commission concluded that based on
police reports, actual testimony and statistics provided by
federal agencies, the use of "assault weapons" by criminals
constituted only a fraction of a percent of types of firearms
employed in felonious activity.
The commission discovered that media hype and anti-gun
advertising had created a sinister ambience around these
firearms without actually clarifying what the guns were. The
term "assault weapon" is generally defined as a military
weapon capable of both semiautomatic and fully automatic fire.
Written testimony supplied to the commission indicated that
fully automatic firearms were rarely if ever used by
criminals. In fact, there was no evidence that a licensed
fully automatic firearm has ever been instrumental in a
reported crime.
The panel found that the term "assault weapon" as portrayed
by the media referred to semiautomatics in general, especially
guns resembling military-style combat firearms. The resulting
confusion made reporting by police officials difficult at
best, the commission determined. As a result they called for
a clarified reporting system that would indicate the type,
make, caliber and action of any firearm used in a crime.
Even with the confusion, actual data available still
indicated that use of semi-autos by criminals was negligible.
This supported BATF findings nationwide that semiautomatic
firearms were not "20 times more likely to be used in a crime"
and were not the "weapon of choice" of drug dealers. These
assumptions have been advanced by anti-gun organizations,
have formed the basis of a discriminatory newspaper study, and
have often been echoed by media commentators.
The Florida report, in concert with federal studies, also
found that stolen guns rather than over-the-counter purchases
were most often employed by criminals. Some anti-gun groups
insist that Florida gun shops are doing a brisk trade
supplying "assault weapons" to drug gangs. The commission
found no evidence to support this accusation.
In conclusion, the commission could not uncover any reason
to place restrictions upon the sale of semiautomatic firearms
and determined that these guns posed no particular menace to
law enforcement. Instead they called for harsh mandatory
sentences for the criminal misuse of firearms, an end to plea-
bargaining in firearms-related crimes, better reporting
procedures in naming firearms used in crimes, and an improved
database to prohibit point-of-purchase sales and the issue of
carry permits to individuals with a history of mental
incompetency. The BADGE - Law Enforcement News From The NRA -
Fall, 1990 (Vol. 2, No. 3)
o Why would anybody want to buy a military style firearm?
For much the same reason that people buy antiques, such as
cars or furniture. They have a a character, and a history that
commercial sporting arms can not match. A firearm based on a
original military design generates a pride in ownership and
can become very collectible. In much the same way as a person
might choose an expensive sport car or over a economy model,
a serious shooter might choose a military style firearm for
it superior accuracy, reliability, and technological advanced
design. Military firearms are designed and built to perform
better, and last longer, and withstand more abuse than all
except the most expensive commercial and hunting arms. So in
addition to buying a piece of history, purchasing a military
style firearm is actually a sound investment in a superior
piece of equipment that will likely appreciate in value.
Since military style firearms can't be used for hunting, what
worth while sporting purpose could anyone find foe a gun like
that?
The most common use of military style firearms is in the many
forms of organized national and international shooting
competitions These competitions are sponsored around the
world for law abiding citizens to participate in. All of the
sanctioned professionally organized events promote the
responsible use of military/law enforcement type firearms
From rec.guns Thu Mar 26 09:04:15 1992 Path:
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u!mimsy!optilink.com From: [c--am--r] at [optilink.com] (Clayton
Cramer) Newsgroups: rec.guns Subject: Re: Open Carry Message-
ID: <[5--0--7] at [mimsy.umd.edu]> Date: 26 Mar 92 13:57:08 GMT Sender:
[m--gn--m] at [mimsy.umd.edu] Organization: Optilink Corporation,
Petaluma, CA Lines: 269 Approved: [gun control] at [cs.umd.edu]
o Article and spreadsheet enclosed. The spreadsheet
demonstrates that the statement is incorrect.
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.
o -------- Clayton Cramer is a software engineer with a
Northern California telecommunications manufacturer.
Year, Total, HG, Rifle, SG, Total guns, Knife, Bomb, PW, 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 .
From talk.politics.guns Wed Feb 12 09:37:03 1992 Path:
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h!pnet01!dudziak From: [d--z--k] at [pnet01.cts.com] (Matt Dudziak)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns Subject: Why the hysteria over
"assault weapons"? Message-ID:
<[1992 Feb 12 041609 2637] at [crash.cts.com]> Date: 12 Feb 92
04:16:09 GMT Sender: [n--s] at [crash.cts.com] Organization: People-
Net [pnet01], El Cajon CA Lines: 64
o The following is a few excerpts from an article printed in the
April 1992 issue of Combat Hanguns magazine, by Ed Siemon.
o "The facts are these. First, as pointed out a zillion times
to no apparent avail, semi-automatic firearms are NOT "assault
weapons." The DOD defines an assault weapon as a firearm
capable of selective fire (both automatic and semi-
automatic). Such weapons have been stringently controlled in
this country since 1934. The guns currently under attack may
look like military weapons, but they are not.
Mechanically, they are no different from millions of other
firearms that have been legally purchased and responsibly used
by American citizens since the turn of the century.
Further, these firearms are NOT "the guns of choice for
criminals." This oft-repeated claim has no basis in reality.
Consider the following:
o * In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the police reported that of
over 5,000 weapons confiscated in a single year, only four or
five were semi-automatic "assault-style" firearms.
o * In Florida, the legislature established "The Florida
Assault Weapons Commission." The Commission was assigned the
task of determining the types of firearms that are misused in
the commission of crimes in Florida. The eleven-member
commission held public hearings and conducted an extensive of
all Florida law enforcement agencies covering the period from
1986 through 1989. The survey found that only one-tenth of
one percent (.001%) [sic -original author's mistake - should
be (.1%)] of firearms-related crime was cimmitted with
"military-look-alike" firearms. In fact, not a single
Kalashnikov (AK-47) type of semi-automatic rifle was involved
in a serious crime during this period!
o Data released by the Massachusetts State Police shows that in
the period from January 1, 1985 to April 9, 1991, only nine
such firearms were involved in shooting incidents.
o In Cleveland, Ohio, the police department reports that of
some 800 firearms seized in the past year and a half, only
about ten could be considered semi-automatic "assault
weapons."
o In Minneapolis, Minnesota, of 2,200 firearms received by the
police department's property section over a two-year period,
only nine were "assault rifles."
o In Los Angeles, the state that banned 35 models of semi-
automatic firearms because they look like military assault
weapons, of the 4,000 guns seized in a year, not more than 3%
could be classified as "assault weapons." ... The LAPD's
ballistics expert, in testimony before Congress, stated that
"We take into custody more handguns, more shotguns, more
sawed-off shotguns and more .22 calibre rifles than any
quantity of so-called assault weapons.""
... The article goes on and on with similar testimonials ...
From talk.politics.guns Tue Apr 21 12:36:50 1992 Newsgroups:
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From: [bb 063] at [cleveland.Freenet.Edu] (Christopher J. Crobaugh)
Subject: The Cox Ass. Rifle "Study" Message-ID:
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University, Cleveland, Ohio, (USA) Date: Tue, 21 Apr 92
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o ANALYSIS OF THE COX ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION
21 MAY 1989 ARTICLE ON ASSAULT WEAPONS
APPENDIX TO TESTIMONY OF
JAMES J.BAKER
DIRECTOR-FEDERAL AFFAIRS
NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION
INSTITUTE FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION
BEFORE THE
SELECT COMMITTEE ON NARCOTICS ABUSE AND CONTROL
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
THE RELATIVE LACK OF CRIMINAL MISUSE OF
SEMIAUTOMATIC RIFLES WITHIN THE UNITED STATES
This hearing primarily concerns the sources of supply of
small arms to Colombian antigovernment forces and drug
traffickers. As noted, the major sources are purchases or
theft from the Colombian military and police, and transfer
from Communist countries and movements. However, questions
have been raised whether semiautomatic, military style rifles
are disproportionately misused by drug traffickers and other
criminals in the United States itself. As the following
demonstrates, such rifles are the least likely type of
firearms to be misused criminally.
ATF RECORDS REVEAL THAT SEMIAUTOMATIC RIFLES
ARE RARELY TRACED IN RELATION TO CRIMINAL MISUSE
Records of firearms traces conducted by the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms contain little or no information
of use in connecting specific firearms with specific types of
crime. Such records generated in recent months are
particularly unreliable in this respect, because BATF has been
conducting massive numbers of "forward traces" of
semiautomatic firearms to determine ownership, and not due to
any criminal misuse. In fact, ATF itself, rather than local
police, requests the majority of traces, and the leading
reason given for the majority of traces is "miscellaneous" and
not some specific crime.
The following analysis is based on ATF records disclosed
under the Freedom of Information Act. The request was for the
same records disclosed to the Cox newspapers resulting in
publication of its article on "assault type guns." ATF stated
about that study:
In providing Cox Newspapers access to ATF's trace
requests, we provided only normally disclosable information
limited to the type of weapon, manufacturer, model, magazine
capacity, serial number and type of crime. We do not
necessarily agree with the conclusions of Cox Newspapers and
need to express that all firearms trace requests submitted by
law enforcement agencies are not crime guns and that the
42,000 traces examined are but a small percentage of all
firearms recovered by law enforcement during the period.
According to the Cox article, the firearms traced by ATF
most frequently are handguns. In order of the number traced,
they are: the Raven .25 cal. pistol; Smith & Wesson Model
60 .38 cal. revolver; Smith & Wesson Model 36 .38 cal.
revolver; Jennings .22 cal. rimfire pistol; and the TEC-9 9mm
pistol.
Total traces by type of firearm are as follows:
Firearm No. traced % of traces
Revolver 13,983 33%
Pistol 12,424 29%
Shotgun 5,493 13%
Rifle 5,305 12%
"Assault weapon" 4,249 10%
"All others" 738 2%
Derringer 581 1%
Total 42,818
The Cox article states that it reviewed traces of 42,758
firearms covering the period Jan. 1, 1988 through March 27,
1989. Atlanta Journal Constitution, May 21, 1989, A1 et seq.
Throughout, the article alleges that the firearms were traced
"to crimes," when in fact no crime was specified for the
majority of traces.
The Cox article used the term "assault weapon" or "assault
gun," apparently because the data so totally fails to suggest
any disproportionate use of "assault rifles," and to distort
the statistics by including certain pistols and shotguns.
ATF records disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act
include listings of specific firearms traces, showing the
requesting agency and the reason for the trace. The raw data
reveals that "miscellaneous"--rather than a specific crime--
is the most frequent reason for the trace; that ATF rather
than local law enforcement is the most frequent requester; and
that most "miscellaneous" traces are initiated by ATF. The
reason appears to be that ATF has been "forward tracing" large
numbers of semiautomatic firearms just to determine who
purchased them and not in relation to any crime. Numerous
licensed importers, manufacturers, and dealers have revealed
to NRA that ATF inspectors have inspected and copied all
records on purchasers of semiautomatic firearms allegedly to
develop an "end user profile." Whether this program is a
fishing expedition or a quasi-registration system, the
"miscellaneous" traces are not suggestive of criminal misuse.
ATF has confirmed the existence of its "forward tracing"
program, but refuses to disclose records about the program
under the Freedom of Information Act. Indeed, ATF refused the
same inspection rights to ATF data to NRA as it accorded to
Cox newspapers based on the following: "Your request to
review the same material examined by personnel from the
Atlanta Journal is denied. Personnel from the Atlanta Journal
had access to ATF forms because they were acting on behalf of
ATF at the time of their review. . . ." This contradicts ATF's
statement above that "we provided only normally disclosable
information" to Cox.
A group of ATF records which exhibits the Cox-ATF mutual
influence or agreement consists of listings of traces of "bad
guns"--selected semiautomatic pistols, rifles, and shotguns
of incomparable designs and tremendously different sporting
uses, but with the common feature that Senator Metzenbaum does
not like them. These are the "assault guns" discussed in the
Cox article which were traced during 1988 and the first
quarter of 1989.
The leading firearms traced were not rifles at all, but
were respectively the M10/M11 pistol (773 traced) and the TEC-
9 pistol (767 traced). By contrast, there were only 689
traces of the "AR-15/M-16"--which would include both AR-15
target rifles sold at sporting goods stores, and M-16
machineguns stolen from the U.S. military.
There was not a single trace of the Steyr AUG, one of the
rifles banned from importation based on the allegation that
"assault rifles" were being disproportionately misused in
crime. Further, ATF records give no comparison data with
ordinary revolvers, pistols, rifles, and shotguns, either in
terms of quantities produced or number of traces.
Most revealing is the reasons for the traces. For all of
the "bad guns" combined--handguns and long guns together--the
following are the trace categories:
Reason for trace Number traced Percentage of traces
Miscellaneous 2,137 43%
Property related 663 13%
Gun Control Act 525 11%
Narcotics 1,078 22%
Homicide 348 7%
Assaults 176 4%
Robbery 60 1%
Arson 8 0.2%
Sex crimes 3 0.1%
Total 4,916
As is clear, 43% of the traces were for "miscellaneous"
reasons. These could have included "forward traces" just to
check on purchasers, without any suggestion of wrongdoing, as
well as lost, found, and abandoned guns. For instance, local
police may wish to determine the owner of a found or unclaimed
firearm.
"Property related" traces, 13% of the total, would include
stolen firearms which have been recovered. Local police may
be seeking the rightful owners in order to establish proof of
burglary and similar crimes as well as to return the property.
"Gun Control Act" traces, amounting to 11% of the total,
would include every suspected technical violation under the
Act. A hobbyist who sold one too many collector's items at a
gun show, a licensee whose entire inventory is seized because
of a recordkeeping violation, or a person who gave a firearm
to a relative who lived in a different state are only some of
the innocuous reasons which would prompt traces under the Gun
Control Act.
"Narcotics" related traces (22% of the total traces) are
difficult to interpret. Situations involving such traces
could be everything from a first time offender in possession
of a small amount of marijuana for personal use who happened
to have a firearm in a home where he was arrested, to a major
crack or heroin trafficker who is a grave danger to society.
Even so, the dangerous trafficker is far more likely to prefer
a pistol or revolver of the same type that the police use,
than such sporting rifles such as an AR-15 or a Mini 14.
The "Homicide" category demonstrates the lack of value of
the trace data. Rifles of all kinds are used in only 4% of
all homicides, and military-style semiautomatic rifles have
been linked to at most 1% of homicides. Of the 348 "bad guns"
traced in connection with homicides, the ATF summary fails to
distinguish rifles from pistols, or to give comparison data
with pistols and revolvers of all kinds.
The firearms traced in the Robbery, Arson, and Sex Crimes
categories are practically negligible, especially when
compared with the numbers of pistols and revolvers of the
types used by police.
To the extent the Cox/ATF data reveal anything regarding
military-style semi-automatic rifles, it is that they are
rarely involved in police traces of crime guns. Using data
prepared by Smithsonian Institution's Edward C. Ezell
regarding the number of various makes and models owned by
Americans, police have requested traces on fewer than one-
tenth of one percent of such rifles now owned. For example,
during the 15-month period, only 105 of 126,000 AK-type semi-
automatic rifles were traced in relation to the investigation
of violent crimes--just nine one- hundredths of one percent,
or roughly one of every 2,000 AK-type semi-automatics owned
by Americans.
In sum, contrary to the Cox article, very little can be
concluded from ATF tracing data, except that ATF itself
conducts most traces for "miscellaneous" reasons, such as
checking on ordinary citizens who enjoy target shooting with
semiautomatic firearms. The overwhelming majority of traces
are conducted for reasons unrelated to violent crime, and the
overwhelming majority of firearms used in crime are not
traced.
ACTUAL CRIME DATA DEMONSTRATES THAT
SEMIAUTOMATIC RIFLES ARE RARELY USED IN CRIME
The Cox study found that about 10% of the guns traced were
"assault weapons" based on the definition used by the Bush
Administration for the import ban and the list in the
Metzenbaum bill for domestic firearms, with the number rather
higher (a) in Los Angeles and South Florida, and (b) for
"narcotics" and "organized crime" traces.
The study reported a 46% increase in crime use for these
guns between 1987 and 1988, and that the increase was
continuing into 1989. If true, that criminal misuse is rising
far slower than availability, for ATF affidavits suggest that
the importation of such rifles increased 900% in the last two
years, while traces less than doubled.
ATF is asked to trace only a fraction of the guns used in
crime. ATF traced about 35,000 guns, although there were over
ten times that many gun-related crimes reported. Clearance
rates are not that low, and in fact violent crimes represent
only a minority of bases for guns traced. Cox thus found less
than 500 so-called "assault weapons" traced in connection with
violent crimes, only one tenth of one percent of about 360,000
gun- related violent crimes.
Even if most traces were for real crimes, there are so few
traces that nothing can be learned from looking at the guns
traced. There are about 180,000 gun-related aggravated
assaults reported to police annually, half of which were
cleared by arrests, but only 1842 assault-related firearms
were traced in the 15 month period. Thus, there was a gun
traced for only one percent of aggravated assaults. No one
can claim the ability to project involvement of a particular
type of firearm in crime based on 1% reporting. Moreover, the
1% is an exaggeration, since it would involve all guns seized
from someone arrested for an assault for which traces were
requested, not necessarily just the firearm used in the
assault.
Cox claims that only 500,000 such guns are privately owned,
based on defining imports as "assault weapons" if on the list
of guns temporarily banned from importation and domestic if
named in the Metzenbaum bill. But ATF has estimated 2-3
million, and Edward C. Ezell of the Smithsonian Institution
estimates about 3- 4 million. If Los Angeles' tendency to
trace military lookalikes is typical of law enforcement
nationally, and if Los Angeles has 19% lookalikes compared to
10% nationally, then military lookalikes account for about 1
1/2% of "crime guns." If the ATF/Ezell figures are roughly
accurate, then military-style semi- autos also account for
about 1 1/2% of firearms owned by Americans and are not
disproportionately used in crime. It is significant that Los
Angeles was the place where Cox found the highest involvement
in trace guns to be the so-called "assault weapons," since Los
Angeles is also the place where the police looked into guns
seized to get a percentage rather than just to guns traced.
So-called "assault weapons" account for 3% of crime guns,
according to the Los Angeles police, so their accounting for
19% of the guns traced simply demonstrates that police are
more apt to trace so-called "assault weapons." Testimony of
Detective Jimmy L. Trahin, Firearms/Ballistics Unit, to
Subcommittee on Constitution, Senate Judiciary Committee, May
5, 1989. Trahin noted over 4,000 crime guns in Los Angeles,
while Cox noted only 2,740 guns traced in the entire state of
California. Clearly, the Cox percentage is based primarily
on the fact that so-called "assault guns" are more apt to be
traced than any others--and by a substantial margin. Indeed,
if Los Angeles' 3% leads to 18% of traced guns, then it is
possible that the national finding of roughly 10% of trace
guns suggests nationally only about 1 1/2% of crime guns.
The data suggest rifle use in crime is diminishing. In
Florida, for example, between 1987 and 1988, rifle use in
homicide fell from 3.9% of homicides to 2.6%, according to the
Florida Department of Law Enforcement. In Washington, D.C.,
where drug trafficking was blamed for a 67% increase in the
homicide rate between 1987 and 1988, only one homicide
involved a rifle of any kind. In Chicago, 1988 saw more
murderers using baseball bats than rifles. The Columbus
Police Department has reported on the firearms seized during
a period of roughly one year (April 29, 1988, to April 21,
1989) during "crack" raids. The 179 firearms seized--which did
not include a single semiautomatic centerfire rifle--were in
the following proportions:
Revolvers 51%
Semiautomatic pistols 30%
Shotguns - long barreled, not semiauto 9%
Shotguns - sawed off 4%
Shotguns - semiauto 1%
Rifles - .22 caliber, not semiauto 2%
Rifles - .22 caliber semiauto 0.6%
Rifles - center fire, not semiauto 0.6%
Clearly, rifles of all kinds are the least desirable weapon
of criminals, and semiautomatic centerfire rifles are misused
far less than ordinary .22 caliber rimfire rifles.
Nationally, according to FBI reports, firearms of all kinds
accounted for just 4% of the homicides in 1987 and 1988. This
represents a drop from the early 1980s, when over 1000 rifle
related homicides annually were reported to the FBI. In the
years 1986-88, fewer than 800 rifle-related homicides each
year were reported to the FBI. The rifle-related homicide
rate has dropped 30% during the 1980s, despite dramatic
increases in the number of so-called "assault rifles."
criminal misuse is rising far slower than availability, for
ATF affidavits suggest that the importation of such rifles
increased 900% in the last two years, while traces less than
doubled.
--
Greg Booth BSc />_________________________________
BCAA-PCDHF-BCWF-NFA-NRA-IPSC [########[]_________________________________>
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