Enthusiasts Eye Assault Rifles as Ban Nears End
Report: Makers Taking Orders
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post
Wednesday, September 8, 2004; Page A03
Gun manufacturers are gearing up for the scheduled expiration next week of a 10-year-old federal ban on assault weapons and are taking orders for semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity ammunition magazines that may soon become legal again, according to a report released yesterday.
The report by the Consumer Federation of America, which favors greater regulation of the gun industry, concludes that "assault weapons will be more lethal and less expensive" without the ban and argues that police "may be forced to adopt a more militaristic approach" as greater numbers of firearms flood the market.
The report, based on interviews with gun industry officials and on reviews of advertisements and other sales materials, comes in the waning days of a federal ban on semiautomatic assault rifles, which has been in place since 1994 but is set to expire Monday unless Congress intervenes.
The Senate approved a renewal of the ban earlier this year, but the provision was part of a broader bill that included other measures opposed by the White House. House GOP leaders have given little indication that they plan to back an extension of the ban, and President Bush -- who said during the 2000 campaign that he would support an extension -- has not pushed the issue.
White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said that Bush "supports the reauthorization of the current assault weapons ban." She noted that "the president's views are well known" among GOP leaders in Congress.
The lack of action on Capitol Hill has prompted gun-control groups and others who favor the legislation to step up their appeals in recent days, including the purchase of full-page newspaper advertisements that criticize Bush for not acting. D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey and more than 70 other police officials will hold a rally today urging Bush to back an extension.
The National Rifle Association has responded by urging members to lobby against the extension of what the group refers to as "the Clinton gun ban." The measure was championed and signed into law by President Bill Clinton.
"We have come too far in the past 10 years not to pull out all the stops in the next week and a half to ensure this ban expires as Congress intended, and becomes nothing more than a sad footnote in America's history," the group said in a message posted on its Web site.
Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) left the campaign trail in May to vote in the Senate in favor of extending the ban, but he has also sought to highlight his familiarity with hunting and other shooting sports. "He is a gun owner and hunter himself, but he believes that a ban on these dangerous weapons must be extended," said Kerry spokeswoman Allison Dobson.
The NRA, a powerful lobbying group that strongly supported Bush in 2000, has not yet officially endorsed a presidential candidate, but it has been sharply critical of Kerry. Spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said that the NRA had been waiting until after both party conventions were over and that the group's board will discuss the issue at a meeting this weekend.
"I see an absence of political appetite for a gun-issue battle in an election year," Arulanandam said. "Politicians remember history, and they remember that a number of high-profile politicians lost their jobs as a result of this ban."
The 1994 law banned the sale to civilians of 19 types of semiautomatic weapons, including semiautomatic versions of the Intratec Tec-9 pistol and Uzi submachine gun, but many manufacturers have been able to skirt the prohibition by offering knock-off models.
The Consumer Federation's assessment cites examples of recent sales pitches by gun manufacturers, which have indicated that they plan to revive models and features outlawed by the ban. Beretta has been offering customers two free 15-round magazines after Sept. 14 with the purchase of two of its weapons, according to an advertisement. The current law restricts the capacity of ammunition magazines to 10 rounds. The consumer group said manufacturers, including Israel Military Industries Ltd., which makes Uzi brand submachine guns, are likely to introduce semiautomatic models into the U.S. market if the ban is lifted.
In another example cited by the group, Illinois-based ArmaLite Inc. has announced a program that allows buyers to convert their guns to use flash suppressors, bayonets and other features that are now illegal. The company is also allowing customers to order banned assault weapons now and have them shipped once the ban is lifted, according to the study.
One company advertisement notes that "ArmaLite rifles are made to be easily retrofitted with your new flash suppressor and other pre-ban features, so you don't have to wait if you choose an ArmaLite."
Robert A. Ricker, a former executive director of the American Shooting Sports Council who now serves as a consultant for groups that favor stricter gun controls, said gun manufacturers hope to capitalize on fears that the ban could be reintroduced at any time.
"You're going to see an incredible buying frenzy," Ricker said during a conference call with reporters yesterday. "Fall is the prime buying season for guns. . . . I think the gun industry's mantra is going to be 'Buy your wife a high-capacity magazine while you can.' "
Arulanandam called such predictions exaggerated. He accused gun-control groups of seeking to confuse the distinction between semiautomatic weapons -- which are covered by the 1994 ban -- and automatic weapons, which are outlawed under other legislation and will continue to be illegal.
=============================================================
IMI optimistic US will lift ban on Uzi sales
Israel Military Industries sources say the company wants to bring in partners for its light arms factory.
Dror Marom
Globes
13 Aug 03
Sources inform “Globes” that Uzi manufacturer Israel Military Industries is optimistic that it will be able to resume sales in the US. Former President Bill Clinton signed a bill banning certain types of automatic and semi-automatic weapons, including the Uzi, blocking signed contracts worth millions of dollars.
The law expires next year, and IMI believes that the Republican administration and Republican-controlled Congress will not renew it.
The Republicans are close to the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA), which backs US gun makers. The NRA is one of the strongest lobbies in the US, basing its pro-gun arguments on the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which states, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
IMI sources said the company would focus in the future on the mini-Uzi, which currently requires a license to buy.
"We plan to bring in partners to the light arms plant, which also makes the Uzi," said the sources. "The fact that the law will expire and the US market will be reopened to us may raise the value of the factory. We'll be pleased if the law is changed before the investors visit the factory. At this stage, we have no special deployment in advance of a change in policy in the US."
=============================================================
Okay, here is my question.... The Globes article refers to "the light arms plant which makes the Uzi". That plant is in Israel, and to the best of my knowlege IMI has no manufacturing facilities inside the U.S. So this implies that after the Clinton AW ban expires on Monday, Uzi would be able to begin importing thier semiauto long-barrelled Uzi Carbine variant to American again.
The problem is that the importation ban instituted by Prez Bush, Sr. is still in effect. That ban is based on a pre-existing law (18 U.S.C. 925(d)(3)) that requires the Secretary of the Treasury to review imported firearms for "suitability for sporting purposes". Prez Bush, Sr. signed an EO directing the SecTreas to ban the importation of certain foreign-made 'assault weapons', including the Uzi. This occured on 21 March 1989, when importation permits for such weapons were suspended.
What I do not understand is how IMI could legally sell Uzis in America. Do they expect to get the importation ban lifted (fat chance)? Does the expiration of the 1994 Clinton AW ban somehow also eliminate the 1989 Bush, Sr. importation ban? Does Uzi expect to spend $millions$ and years building a new plant here in America just to produce Uzi Carbines for the American market (that hardly seems cost effective, and the Globes article seems to imply otherwise)? What am I missing here?
Report: Makers Taking Orders
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post
Wednesday, September 8, 2004; Page A03
Gun manufacturers are gearing up for the scheduled expiration next week of a 10-year-old federal ban on assault weapons and are taking orders for semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity ammunition magazines that may soon become legal again, according to a report released yesterday.
The report by the Consumer Federation of America, which favors greater regulation of the gun industry, concludes that "assault weapons will be more lethal and less expensive" without the ban and argues that police "may be forced to adopt a more militaristic approach" as greater numbers of firearms flood the market.
The report, based on interviews with gun industry officials and on reviews of advertisements and other sales materials, comes in the waning days of a federal ban on semiautomatic assault rifles, which has been in place since 1994 but is set to expire Monday unless Congress intervenes.
The Senate approved a renewal of the ban earlier this year, but the provision was part of a broader bill that included other measures opposed by the White House. House GOP leaders have given little indication that they plan to back an extension of the ban, and President Bush -- who said during the 2000 campaign that he would support an extension -- has not pushed the issue.
White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said that Bush "supports the reauthorization of the current assault weapons ban." She noted that "the president's views are well known" among GOP leaders in Congress.
The lack of action on Capitol Hill has prompted gun-control groups and others who favor the legislation to step up their appeals in recent days, including the purchase of full-page newspaper advertisements that criticize Bush for not acting. D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey and more than 70 other police officials will hold a rally today urging Bush to back an extension.
The National Rifle Association has responded by urging members to lobby against the extension of what the group refers to as "the Clinton gun ban." The measure was championed and signed into law by President Bill Clinton.
"We have come too far in the past 10 years not to pull out all the stops in the next week and a half to ensure this ban expires as Congress intended, and becomes nothing more than a sad footnote in America's history," the group said in a message posted on its Web site.
Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) left the campaign trail in May to vote in the Senate in favor of extending the ban, but he has also sought to highlight his familiarity with hunting and other shooting sports. "He is a gun owner and hunter himself, but he believes that a ban on these dangerous weapons must be extended," said Kerry spokeswoman Allison Dobson.
The NRA, a powerful lobbying group that strongly supported Bush in 2000, has not yet officially endorsed a presidential candidate, but it has been sharply critical of Kerry. Spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said that the NRA had been waiting until after both party conventions were over and that the group's board will discuss the issue at a meeting this weekend.
"I see an absence of political appetite for a gun-issue battle in an election year," Arulanandam said. "Politicians remember history, and they remember that a number of high-profile politicians lost their jobs as a result of this ban."
The 1994 law banned the sale to civilians of 19 types of semiautomatic weapons, including semiautomatic versions of the Intratec Tec-9 pistol and Uzi submachine gun, but many manufacturers have been able to skirt the prohibition by offering knock-off models.
The Consumer Federation's assessment cites examples of recent sales pitches by gun manufacturers, which have indicated that they plan to revive models and features outlawed by the ban. Beretta has been offering customers two free 15-round magazines after Sept. 14 with the purchase of two of its weapons, according to an advertisement. The current law restricts the capacity of ammunition magazines to 10 rounds. The consumer group said manufacturers, including Israel Military Industries Ltd., which makes Uzi brand submachine guns, are likely to introduce semiautomatic models into the U.S. market if the ban is lifted.
In another example cited by the group, Illinois-based ArmaLite Inc. has announced a program that allows buyers to convert their guns to use flash suppressors, bayonets and other features that are now illegal. The company is also allowing customers to order banned assault weapons now and have them shipped once the ban is lifted, according to the study.
One company advertisement notes that "ArmaLite rifles are made to be easily retrofitted with your new flash suppressor and other pre-ban features, so you don't have to wait if you choose an ArmaLite."
Robert A. Ricker, a former executive director of the American Shooting Sports Council who now serves as a consultant for groups that favor stricter gun controls, said gun manufacturers hope to capitalize on fears that the ban could be reintroduced at any time.
"You're going to see an incredible buying frenzy," Ricker said during a conference call with reporters yesterday. "Fall is the prime buying season for guns. . . . I think the gun industry's mantra is going to be 'Buy your wife a high-capacity magazine while you can.' "
Arulanandam called such predictions exaggerated. He accused gun-control groups of seeking to confuse the distinction between semiautomatic weapons -- which are covered by the 1994 ban -- and automatic weapons, which are outlawed under other legislation and will continue to be illegal.
=============================================================
IMI optimistic US will lift ban on Uzi sales
Israel Military Industries sources say the company wants to bring in partners for its light arms factory.
Dror Marom
Globes
13 Aug 03
Sources inform “Globes” that Uzi manufacturer Israel Military Industries is optimistic that it will be able to resume sales in the US. Former President Bill Clinton signed a bill banning certain types of automatic and semi-automatic weapons, including the Uzi, blocking signed contracts worth millions of dollars.
The law expires next year, and IMI believes that the Republican administration and Republican-controlled Congress will not renew it.
The Republicans are close to the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA), which backs US gun makers. The NRA is one of the strongest lobbies in the US, basing its pro-gun arguments on the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which states, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
IMI sources said the company would focus in the future on the mini-Uzi, which currently requires a license to buy.
"We plan to bring in partners to the light arms plant, which also makes the Uzi," said the sources. "The fact that the law will expire and the US market will be reopened to us may raise the value of the factory. We'll be pleased if the law is changed before the investors visit the factory. At this stage, we have no special deployment in advance of a change in policy in the US."
=============================================================
Okay, here is my question.... The Globes article refers to "the light arms plant which makes the Uzi". That plant is in Israel, and to the best of my knowlege IMI has no manufacturing facilities inside the U.S. So this implies that after the Clinton AW ban expires on Monday, Uzi would be able to begin importing thier semiauto long-barrelled Uzi Carbine variant to American again.
The problem is that the importation ban instituted by Prez Bush, Sr. is still in effect. That ban is based on a pre-existing law (18 U.S.C. 925(d)(3)) that requires the Secretary of the Treasury to review imported firearms for "suitability for sporting purposes". Prez Bush, Sr. signed an EO directing the SecTreas to ban the importation of certain foreign-made 'assault weapons', including the Uzi. This occured on 21 March 1989, when importation permits for such weapons were suspended.
What I do not understand is how IMI could legally sell Uzis in America. Do they expect to get the importation ban lifted (fat chance)? Does the expiration of the 1994 Clinton AW ban somehow also eliminate the 1989 Bush, Sr. importation ban? Does Uzi expect to spend $millions$ and years building a new plant here in America just to produce Uzi Carbines for the American market (that hardly seems cost effective, and the Globes article seems to imply otherwise)? What am I missing here?
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