Posted on 09/21/2006 2:27:14 PM PDT by neverdem
September 5th , 2006 Contact: Sue Peschin CeaseFire MD Board Member (301) 802-4850
BALTIMORE, MD:One semiautomatic assault rifle was traced to a Maryland crime every 48 hours, according to a study by CeaseFire Maryland, Inc. released today.
The data, from the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) show that 789 assault rifles were traced to crime in Maryland from January 2, 1998 to December 31, 2001, but the actual number of assault weapons traced to crime in the state is likely to be higher.
“With assault weapons being traced to crime in Maryland an average of every 48 hours, more needs to be done to get these guns off Maryland streets and to help law enforcement keep our communities safe,” said Lisa Delity, President of CeaseFire Maryland Inc. Lisa’s brother, FBI Special Agent Mike Miller, was gunned down with an assault weapon at Washington, DC police headquarters in November 1994.
The report, authored by CeaseFire Maryland, Inc. board member Sue Peschin, identified firearms that had certain common military calibers then narrowed the list by make and model. Entries with unknown makes and models were deleted. Finally, with the exception of the M1 Carbine, only those firearms that would be banned in Maryland under proposed assault weapons legislation from the 2006 legislative session were kept on the list. Therefore, the current data does not capture every assault weapon.
According to the tracing data, the most common assault rifles traced to crime by make and model include: 21 Colt AR-15s; 46 USA Military Surplus M1 Carbines; 55 Ruger Mini14s; 92 HiPoint 9mm carbines; and 294 North China Industries SKS variants.
Delegate Neil Quinter (D-TK), lead sponsor of legislation that would expand Maryland’s pistol ban to include assault rifles and shotguns, stated, “research has shown that Maryland's existing ban on assault pistols has been effective in reducing their use in crime. Today's report shows that we need to finish the job and pass my legislation to ban assault rifles and shotguns, as well, to end their deadly use in Maryland. These weapons of war have no place on our streets, threatening our citizens, children and police.”
The report was released today outside Valley Guns in Baltimore County. ATF recently revoked Valley Guns’ license to sell firearms due to thousands of Federal gun law violations. According to Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence President Paul Helmke, the store was chosen as the location for the report’s announcement because, “its proprietor represents what’s wrong with our gun laws. Valley Guns got away with thumbing its nose at state and federal laws for more than a decade. Meanwhile our state elected leaders continue to allow the sale of weapons that present a clear and present danger to Maryland communities.”
The Federal ban on assault weapons expired on September 13, 2004. Since early 2003 Maryland legislators have introduced legislation that would renew and strengthen the federal ban in Maryland. The most recent bill introduced in the 2006 legislative session would maintain the major elements of the expired Federal assault weapons ban by adding 45 long guns that have been defined as “assault weapons” under Maryland law to the assault pistol ban statute.
###
CeaseFire Maryland, Inc. is a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization that advocates for policies to prevent and reduce gun violence in Maryland.
As the nation's largest, non-partisan, grassroots organization leading the fight to prevent gun violence, the Brady Campaign, working with its dedicated network of Million Mom March Chapters, is devoted to creating an America free from gun violence, where all Americans are safe at home, at school, at work, and in our communities.
Hunters brace for another gun fight
I wouldn't be surprised if 90% of those weapons were seized as a result of some lame domestic abuse or divorce proceeding.
So why don't they deport that assault rifle to New Jersey?
Blaming rifles for violence is like blaming forks for Rosie O'Donnel's fat ass.
Clearly, these dangerous guns should be locked up longer! Just say no to soft sentences for guns that kill people!
Did I miss it or were nearly 100% of the crimes committed by CRIMINALS with priors, and illegal gun ownership?
What percent of these "crimes every 48 hours" were committed by hunters and homeowners?
just so ya know, I did not bother to read the entire article ...
I believe that this is completely bogus. I very rarely hear of an assault rifle being used in a crime.
I call absolute BS on this stat.
"Assault pistols"??? Wow, they're inventing whole new categories over there, aren't they?
Hey, gungrabbers - it's either a machine pistol, a submachinegun, or it's a semiautomatic pistol that looks evil. *Nobody* makes an "assault pistol."
They could always make shooting people illegal. That would cover all types of firearms.
Or stolen from police cruisers, for that matter.
I tend to agree... that is closer to the number of real AW (as defined by Federal Law) that are actually USE in a crime nationally. More likely it is 99% that are confiscated reather than really used.
John Lott had it at less than 2% nationally and his number included confiscations as a result of drug raids, etc.
>>
Pretty loose use of the term "assault weapon".
<<
Any ugly gun, especially if it is black, is clearly an "assault weapon".
I was going to blame her licker...
It's very hard to walk into a bodega with an assault rifle for a stick up, and then down the street afterwards. Rifles aren't used for stickups or murders for that reason: They're too long and they stand out.
I quite agree with a previous poster that these are undoubtedly additional charges applied to felons who broke some other law not having to do with a gun. Their gun collection (illegal for a felon) just brought another charge.
You can fairly safely assume nobody was killed or injured with these guns, otherwise the grabbers would have highlighted that.
An "assault rifle" being a rifle that does shoot bullets and which IS subsequently used to assault a human being, riiiiight....?!
All guns are beautiful. Except of course anything Chinese. :-)
That's only 180 crimes a year for the entire state. Out of how many total crimes, I wonder.
"Traced to a crime" means that if the victim owned one of these and it was found at the scene of the crime and the BATFE traced it...well...BINGO, they get another bogus hit!
This is the scam they have previously used for "traced to crime" statistics and it seems likely they did it again here. Can anyone confirm?
Time to get technical, because there is some serious misuse of terminology going on here.
In the strictest sense, an assault rifle is a carbine with selective fire capability, i.e. it can be fired in full-auto or semi-auto mode depending on a switch. Since these are machine guns under U.S. law, they are not widely sold (very expensive).
The term "semiautomatic assault rifle" when taken in this context, is oxymoronic.
The term "assault weapon" is so vague as to be virtually meaningless, as anything can be used in an assault, even a pot of coffee.
This article is the same old tripe that the anti-freedomers have been foisting on us for the last 18 years. It was BS then and it's BS now.
/soapbox
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.