Perlov joins march for assault-gun ban
By THOMASI MCDONALD, Staff Writer
RALEIGH -- Raleigh Police Chief Jane Perlov was among nearly 50 people at a Raleigh rally Thursday calling on President Bush to support the renewal of a federal ban on assault weapons.
The ban is to expire Sept. 13 unless the law is renewed.
The rally, sponsored by the Million Mom March and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, was part of a nationwide Halt the Assault tour. The tour, headed by a pink tractor-trailer rig, will stop in about 20 states and dozens of cities -- including in Durham on Thursday night -- in the next four months.
Speakers in front of Nash Square at Hargett and Dawson streets Thursday cast Bush's failure to renew the ban in ominous terms.
"Sept. 14 could be a dark day in our country if the ban is not renewed by midnight Sept. 13," said Sylvia Dake of Cary, one of the local organizers of the Halt the Assault tour.
Perlov was joined by police officials from Apex, Durham, Gastonia and Elizabethtown. Other supporters included the Triangle-based North Carolinians Against Gun Violence, the N.C. Consumers Council and Congregations in Action.
"The AK-47s and Uzis have one simple thing in common," Perlov said. "They were designed to mow people down."
Raleigh's top cop noted a robbery reported this week committed by four suspects -- one armed with what the victims described as an Uzi.
"Even in semiautomatic form, these weapons still pose a grave danger that sends a chill through crime victims and law enforcement alike," Perlov said.
A spokesman with the National Rifle Association said a study by the "[President] Clinton-[Janet] Reno Justice Department" showed that the assault weapons ban has not deterred crime.
"It's an ill-conceived law," said Andrew Arulanandan, an NRA spokesman who spoke from the organization's Fairfax, Va., offices Thursday. "This law should sunset as Congress intended it to."
Supporters of the ban who gathered Thursday in Raleigh hope otherwise.
Million Mom March supporters at Nash Square laid a thin comforter on the ground. The comforter contained about 100 pastel sheets of paper with "Why I March" inscribed across the top. The sheets contained photos, newspaper articles and letters about the victims of gun violence.
"Two suicides in one family!" read one sheet. "It's too easy to get guns today." A picture of a murdered 6-year-old girl was taped underneath the note.
http://newsobserver.com/news/story/3600900p-3201884c.html
By THOMASI MCDONALD, Staff Writer
RALEIGH -- Raleigh Police Chief Jane Perlov was among nearly 50 people at a Raleigh rally Thursday calling on President Bush to support the renewal of a federal ban on assault weapons.
The ban is to expire Sept. 13 unless the law is renewed.
The rally, sponsored by the Million Mom March and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, was part of a nationwide Halt the Assault tour. The tour, headed by a pink tractor-trailer rig, will stop in about 20 states and dozens of cities -- including in Durham on Thursday night -- in the next four months.
Speakers in front of Nash Square at Hargett and Dawson streets Thursday cast Bush's failure to renew the ban in ominous terms.
"Sept. 14 could be a dark day in our country if the ban is not renewed by midnight Sept. 13," said Sylvia Dake of Cary, one of the local organizers of the Halt the Assault tour.
Perlov was joined by police officials from Apex, Durham, Gastonia and Elizabethtown. Other supporters included the Triangle-based North Carolinians Against Gun Violence, the N.C. Consumers Council and Congregations in Action.
"The AK-47s and Uzis have one simple thing in common," Perlov said. "They were designed to mow people down."
Raleigh's top cop noted a robbery reported this week committed by four suspects -- one armed with what the victims described as an Uzi.
"Even in semiautomatic form, these weapons still pose a grave danger that sends a chill through crime victims and law enforcement alike," Perlov said.
A spokesman with the National Rifle Association said a study by the "[President] Clinton-[Janet] Reno Justice Department" showed that the assault weapons ban has not deterred crime.
"It's an ill-conceived law," said Andrew Arulanandan, an NRA spokesman who spoke from the organization's Fairfax, Va., offices Thursday. "This law should sunset as Congress intended it to."
Supporters of the ban who gathered Thursday in Raleigh hope otherwise.
Million Mom March supporters at Nash Square laid a thin comforter on the ground. The comforter contained about 100 pastel sheets of paper with "Why I March" inscribed across the top. The sheets contained photos, newspaper articles and letters about the victims of gun violence.
"Two suicides in one family!" read one sheet. "It's too easy to get guns today." A picture of a murdered 6-year-old girl was taped underneath the note.
http://newsobserver.com/news/story/3600900p-3201884c.html
