NEW YORKERS AGAINST GUN VIOLENCE

3 West 29th Street, Suite 1007 · New York, New York 10001 · 212 679-2345

NEW YORK PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP (NYPIRG)

107 Washington Avenue, 2nd Floor · Albany, New York 12210 · 518 436-0876

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release                                                     Contact:     Russ Haven (NYPIRG) 518 436-0876

Thursday September 9, 2004, p.m.                                                           Andy Pelosi (NYAGV) 212 679-2345

Federal Assault Weapons Ban to Expire in Four Days Unless President & Congress Act

LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS, CONSUMER & ANTI-VIOLENCE GROUPS URGE PRESIDENT BUSH & CONGRESS TO SAVE ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN LAW

GROUPS CALL ON GOVERNOR PATAKI TO WEIGH IN WITH PRESIDENT

(September 9, 2004) Albany, NY: Consumer and anti-violence organizations today joined law enforcement groups to call on President Bush and Congress to act to reauthorize the federal Assault Weapons Ban law, which is set to expire midnight September 13th.

"After 10 years we are now faced with the reality that these weapons of war, which place our communities and law enforcement in danger, will have no restrictions," said Andy Pelosi, executive director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence. "Military-style assault weapons are preferred by criminal gangs, drug dealers and individuals intent on mass murder. That’s why law enforcement, who put their lives on the line each day, want assault weapons off our streets."

This past Tuesday, a letter with a list of over 1900 police chiefs and sheriffs from 37 states asking Congress and the President for a strong and effective ban was delivered to all 535 Members of Congress and the President. Included in that list were 75 police chiefs and sheriffs from New York State (attached).

The 1994 Assault Weapons Ban prohibited the manufacture, transfer, and possession of 19 specific semiautomatic assault weapons, such as AK-47s, AR15s, MAC-10s, TEC-9s and UZIs. Military-style semiautomatic assault weapons pose a grave risk to law enforcement officers. One in five law enforcement officers slain in the line of duty between January 1st, 1998, and December 31st, 2001, was killed with an assault weapon, according to a study of FBI data by the Violence Policy Center. Recent police officer shootings involving assault weapons include the December 2003 shooting of Albany Police Department Lt. John Finn, whose assailant wielded a TEC 9 assault pistol.

"President Bush cannot have it both ways on assault weapons, trying to look moderate by saying he supports the ban, but then doing nothing to see it reauthorized," said NYPIRG Legislative Counsel Russ Haven. "Governor Pataki and New York’s Congressmembers need to weigh in with the President immediately and urge him to tell Congress to send him an assault weapons bill to sign, or our streets will be far more dangerous." (A copy of the letter sent to Governor Pataki is attached.)

The groups noted that gun makers already are marketing high-capacity semi-automatic assault weapons in anticipation of the expiration of the federal ban, according to Back in Business, a report released this week by the Consumer Federation of America. See www.consumerfed.org/BACK_IN_BUSINESS.pdf.

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