Ravenwood - 07/20/04 06:00 AM
Kevin Baker notices something puzzling about this police chief's statement. When asked about the expiration of the 1994 Clinton Gun Ban in September, the Chief either lied intentionally, or showed his ignorance of the law and/or basic firearms knowledge:
East Pikeland Police Chief James Franciscus, who serves as Chester County Police Chiefs Association financial secretary, supports extending the ban.Of course, the 1994 Clinton Gun Ban has no effect what-so-ever on fully automatic firearms. Also, people are not prohibited from legally purchasing fully automatic firearms even now. All you have to do is follow the NFA procedures which were defined in 1934. For the record, since 1934 there has been only one murder committed with a legally owned automatic firearm, and that murder was committed by a police officer.
"If the ban is lifted, people will be able to purchase fully automatic weapons, and they will be able to use those automatic weapons," he said. " It could jeopardize the lives of the public or police officers or others."
Category: Cold Dead Hands
Comments (2) top link me
R - Do you have the source for that factoid about the automatic weapon? I have used that in a debate with a cow-irker, and I would love to have some backup.
Posted by: Jeffro at July 20, 2004 9:54 AMGuncite has the specifics:
Since 1934, only one legally owned machine gun has ever been used in crime, and that was a murder committed by a law enforcement officer (as opposed to a civilian). On September 15th, 1988, a 13-year veteran of the Dayton, Ohio police department, Patrolman Roger Waller, then 32, used his fully automatic MAC-11 .380 caliber submachine gun to kill a police informant, 52-year-old Lawrence Hileman. Patrolman Waller pleaded guilty in 1990, and he and an accomplice were sentenced to 18 years in prison. The 1986 'ban' on sales of new machine guns does not apply to purchases by law enforcement or government agencies.
---
Thanks to the staff of the Columbus, Ohio Public Library for the details of the Waller case.
(c) Ravenwood and Associates, 1990 - 2014
