DaveSZ
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Fri Mar-26-04 05:21 AM
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NPR Examines the Semi-automatic gun ban |
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Edited on Sat Mar-27-04 07:52 AM by Skinner
National Public Radio (NPR)
SHOW: Morning Edition (10:00 AM ET) - NPR
March 11, 2004 Thursday
LENGTH: 987 words
HEADLINE: Assault weapons ban due to expire in September
ANCHORS: BOB EDWARDS
REPORTERS: LARRY ABRAMSON
BODY: BOB EDWARDS, host:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Bob Edwards.
Gun control advocates won a big victory last week, but it didn't last long. They passed a Senate amendment that would have extended the assault weapons ban. Gun control opponents were so upset that they killed the entire package of legislation. The ban is due to expire in September, and gun control supporters are making its renewal a do-or-die issue. NPR's Larry Abramson reports that people on both sides agree the ban has not worked as intended.
LARRY ABRAMSON reporting:
The Violence Policy Center is one of the more aggressive gun groups in Washington, DC, and analyst Tom Diaz is their assault weapons guy. It's his job to emphasize just how deadly these guns are. So how does he feel about the effort to renew the assault weapons ban?
Mr. TOM DIAZ (Violence Policy Center): If the existing assault weapons ban expires, I personally do not believe it will make one whit of difference one way or another in terms of our objective, which is reducing death and injury and getting a particularly lethal class of firearms off the streets. So if it doesn't pass, it doesn't pass. (Soundbite of car doors closing)
ABRAMSON: To explain why, we have to travel. The District of Columbia's law against assault weapons is even stricter than the federal government's. Virginia's is more friendly, so the Violence Policy Center keeps its samples at a house on the other side of the Potomac.
Mr. DIAZ: Hi, Amy.
(Soundbite of door closing)
EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT
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Romulus
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Fri Mar-26-04 09:07 AM
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1. I would point to something else |
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namely, the Brady background Check law that went into effect in 1994.
I think this has done more to prevent possession by felons than any "ban."
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FeebMaster
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Fri Mar-26-04 04:41 PM
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At best it's going to stop the absolute dumbest of criminals from getting a gun, assuming they're eventually prosecuted, assuming they aren't already prohibited from owning a gun.
If they aren't prosecuted it will delay them until they find another place to get a gun without background checks. If they don't have a criminal record a background check isn't going to stop them. And if they have half a brain they aren't going to try and pass a background check in the first place if they can't pass one.
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TX-RAT
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Fri Mar-26-04 05:07 PM
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3. Suicides and crimes of passion. |
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I don't think its had as much impact on felony possession as it's had on suicides and crimes of passion.
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Narf
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Fri Mar-26-04 05:20 PM
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Felons, who already know they can't legally get a gun, rarely walk into a gun store KNOWING they will be subject to a background check. They simply steal a gun or buy one from another felon.
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FeebMaster
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Fri Mar-26-04 05:21 PM
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5. What impact has it had |
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on suicides and crimes of passion? How has it made this impact?
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Moderator
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Fri Mar-26-04 05:50 PM
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6. DaveSZ, please check your inbox for PM. Thanks! n/t |
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Fri Mar-26-04 06:23 PM
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Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.
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DU
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Tue May 07th 2024, 08:05 AM
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