The current assault weapons ban prohibits the manufacturer and sale of 19 assault weapons by name – AK-47s, AR-15s, and UZIs – and other weapons based on their physical characteristics. But, the law was passed with a ten year sunset provision, and will expire on September 14, 2004, ten years after it was signed into law by President Clinton, unless renewed by this Congress.

“Unfortunately, current law has failed to meet the intent of Congress when it passed the ban in 1994,” said Kirsten Meredith, communications director of IPGV. “Gun manufacturers have cynically evaded the law by making cosmetic changes to their weapons, renaming them, and marketing them as post-ban products.” To support her claim, Meredith held up a 2003 Gun Buyers Guide that lists over 125 different makes and models of post-ban assault weapons currently offered for sale on civilian markets.

IPGV also released a list of pre-ban and post-ban assault weapons observed for sale at a gun show held at Hawkeye Downs in Cedar Rapids over the November 7-9 weekend. Assault weapons for sale included AR-15 type .223-caliber rifles, Romanian and Chinese AK-47 type 7.62x39mm rifles, and 9mm and .45ACP assault pistols.

Said Meredith, “The result is that people are being killed and injured by guns that most Americans thought were banned in 1994. And all too often, the people being killed are police officers.” A recent study by the Violence Policy Center found that one out of every five police officers killed in the line of duty between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 2001 was killed with an assault weapon.

IPGV asked Iowa’s members of Congress to support the “Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Act” introduced in the House of Representatives by Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) and in the Senate by Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). This legislation not only makes the current assault weapons ban permanent; it also strengthens the law to meet the original intent of Congress when it passed the assault weapons ban in 1994.

“Congress never meant for there to be two classes of assault weapons – assault weapons that are banned by law, and functionally equivalent assault weapons that are not banned,” said John Johnson, executive director of IPGV. “It’s time for Congress to stop “pussy footing” around and pass an assault weapons ban that the gun industry can’t evade. Only the McCarthy and Lautenberg assault weapon bills achieve this goal. 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 ‘knock downs’ and clones of these weapons.”

Johnson said that current members of Congress who oppose renewal of the assault weapons ban can run as the “assault weapons candidate” in the next election.

Bryan Miller of Haddonfield, NJ, told how his brother, an FBI agent, was killed in 1994 with a Colbry MAC-10 assault pistol. His brother’s death caused Miller to quit his job as vice president of an international business company to become a full-time gun violence prevention activist. He is currently executive director of Ceasefire New Jersey and Ceasefire Pennsylvania.