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PRESS RELEASE |
| For Immediate Release: July 15, 2004 | Contact: Leah Woodward 319-743-7823 |
More than 1,100 Police Officers and Sheriffs from Across the Country Demand Renewal and Strengthening of the Federal Assault Weapons BanSixty-Two Iowa Chiefs and Sheriffs Join their Colleagues from Around the Nation |
| Cedar Rapids, IA - A groundswell of more than 1,100 Police Chiefs and Sheriffs from around the nation are calling on Congress and President Bush to renew and strengthen the federal Assault Weapons Ban, before it expires on September 14. Sixty-two Police Chiefs from Iowa have declared this by signing onto a resolution sent to them by Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence. This is part of a collaborative effort by States United to Prevent Gun Violence, a coalition of state-based organizations devoted to reducing gun violence, and its coalition partners to advocate passage of a strong and effective federal Assault Weapons Ban.
The 1994 Assault Weapons Ban prohibited the manufacture, transfer, and possession of 19 specific semi-automatic assault weapons, including AK-47s, AR-15s, and UZIs. The gun industry immediately began to evade the law by making minor cosmetic changes to assault weapons, renaming them, and marketing them as “post-ban” model guns. These copycat assault weapons are functionally identical to those banned in the 1994 law. It is because of these loopholes in the current law that a growing number of Police chiefs and Sheriffs support a strengthening and renewal of the Assault Weapons Ban. Military Style semi-automatic weapons pose a grave risk to law enforcement officers. One in five officers slain in the line of duty between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 2001, were killed with an assault weapon, according to a study of FBI data conducted by the Violence Policy Center. Last month in Birmingham Alabama, three police officers were shot and killed by a gunman wielding a 7.62 mm SKS assault rifle while they were trying to serve an arrest warrant. The SKS assault rifle is functionally identical to an AK-47 and uses the same ammunition. Such copycat assault weapons, like the SKS, are not covered under the current assault weapons ban and would be a crucial addition in the strengthening and renewal of the federal Assault Weapons Ban. In addition to the fatalities that law enforcement officials incur from assault weapons, we must also consider the severe injuries that they sustain. One chief, from Brighton, Michigan, wrote “Less than two weeks ago, an officer from this agency, a six year veteran, and another officer, a fifteen year veteran from a neighboring department, were both shot several times with an AK-47 rifle while attempting an arrest. Both officers are still in the hospital for treatment of their injuries.” He pointed out, “Not only do assault rifles kill, they seriously wound as well.” “Gaining the support of Police Chiefs and Sheriffs for renewing the Assault Weapons Ban has not been difficult’, said John Johnson, IPGV Executive Director. ‘The men and women who protect us are aware of the devastating firepower of these guns and the damage they cause in our communities.” Public opinion surveys show that Americans, including a majority of gun owners, overwhelmingly support a federal ban on military-style, semi-automatic assault weapons. Johnson pointed to state voter surveys released jointly on Tuesday by the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and the Consumer Federation of America available at www.csgv.org and www.consumerfed.org. The survey reports that an average of about 70 percent of voters in the Midwestern states polled (OH, WI, MI, and MO), supported a strengthening and renewal of the current assault weapons ban. Johnson concluded, “Americans have said that they don’t want these weapons. They don’t want the AK-47s, they don’t want the AR-15s, they don’t want the TEC-DC9s and UZIs, and they don’t want the ‘copycats’ and ‘knockoffs’ of these weapons.” Respondent numbers by state:
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