BILL NUMBER: AJR 56 CHAPTERED BILL TEXT RESOLUTION CHAPTER 188 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 10, 2004 ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 28, 2004 ADOPTED IN SENATE JULY 1, 2004 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 21, 2004 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 29, 2004 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 11, 2004 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Frommer and Koretz (Coauthors: Assembly Members Chan, Chavez, Goldberg, Hancock, Jackson, Leno, Lieber, Mullin, Nation, Ridley-Thomas, Vargas, Berg, Bermudez, Calderon, Chu, Cohn, Corbett, Daucher, Diaz, Dutra, Dymally, Firebaugh, Shirley Horton, Kehoe, Laird, Levine, Liu, Lowenthal, Matthews, Montanez, Nunez, Oropeza, Parra, Reyes, Salinas, Simitian, Steinberg, Wesson, Wolk, and Yee) (Coauthors: Senators Alpert, Romero, and Scott) JANUARY 12, 2004 Assembly Joint Resolution No. 56--Relative to the extension of the 1994 ban on assault weapons. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AJR 56, Frommer. Assault weapons ban. This measure would memorialize the Congress and the President of the United States to enact legislation that would extend and strengthen the 1994 act banning assault weapons. WHEREAS, The federal assault weapons ban, officially titled The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act, passed as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, and is designed to ban dangerous semiautomatic guns with multiple assault weapon features; and WHEREAS, The ban was a response following many deadly incidents involving assault weapons; and WHEREAS, On July 18, 1984, James Oliver Huberty entered a McDonald' s restaurant in San Ysidro and brutally opened fire, killing 20 people, including many children, and wounding 16 others. Huberty was armed with multiple firearms including assault weapons; and WHEREAS, On January 17, 1989, Patrick Purdy killed five small children and wounded 29 others and one teacher at the Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, California. Purdy shot 106 rounds in less than two minutes. The horrific shooting became known as the Stockton Schoolyard Massacre; and WHEREAS, On July 1, 1993, Gian Luigi Ferri opened fire in the San Francisco law office of Pettit & Martin, located at 101 California Street. The shooter legally purchased two assault pistols in Nevada and brought them across state lines into California. The devastating shooting took the lives of eight innocent people and wounded six others; and WHEREAS, These shootings were only a few of many violent incidents that prompted the passage of an assault weapons ban in 1994; and WHEREAS, The assault weapons ban works. In 1989, when President George H.W. Bush stopped the import of certain assault rifles, the number of imported assault rifles traced to crime dropped by 45 percent in one year. After the 1994 ban, there were 18 percent fewer assault weapons traced to crime in the first eight months of 1995 than were traced in the same period in 1994; and WHEREAS, Some firearms manufacturers have attempted to evade the assault weapons ban by making cosmetic changes to assault weapons that were specifically banned under the federal law. A clone of the explicitly banned AR-15 assault weapon was used by the Washington D.C. area sniper to kill 10 and injure three in October 2002; and WHEREAS, The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms reported that in 1993, 8.2 percent of guns used in crimes were assault weapons. By November 1996, this figure fell to 3.2 percent; and WHEREAS, If not renewed by Congress and the President of the United States, this ban will expire on September 13, 2004, and allow unsafe military style weapons to once again infiltrate American communities; and WHEREAS, Expiration of this crucial ban will increase the use of assault weapons in crime; and WHEREAS, In addition to the human toll, gun violence costs California billions of dollars every year in medical expenses, lost worker productivity, additional workplace and school safety expenditures, increased business costs, and lost tourism. Neither California nor the nation can afford the expiration of this important public safety measure; and WHEREAS, President George W. Bush, every major law enforcement organization in America, and a substantial majority of Americans support the ban. Many more Americans strongly support new measures to strengthen the ban; and WHEREAS, Police across America report that semiautomatic assault weapons are the "weapon of choice" among drug traffickers, gangs, and paramilitary extremist groups; and WHEREAS, United States military forces in Afghanistan recovered an al Qaeda training manual, which specifically urged violent followers to "obtain an assault rifle legally, preferably an AK-47 or variations." AK-47s are included in the list of assault weapons currently banned; and WHEREAS, Should the ban expire, these types of dangerous weapons will be easily accessible to terrorists; and WHEREAS, If these weapons flood America's streets, law enforcement officers and the public will be at extreme risk from these weapons because of their highly dangerous rapid, spray-fire characteristics and ability to penetrate body armor; and WHEREAS, Despite fierce opposition, this law has been upheld by the federal courts, and the United States Supreme Court refused to review a federal appellate court decision that rejected constitutional challenges to the ban; and WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court has ruled that the Second Amendment is not a barrier to firearms laws; and WHEREAS, Both President Bush and Attorney General Ashcroft have expressed support for the assault weapons ban, and Attorney General Ashcroft has declared the ban Constitutional. White House spokesman Scott McClellan reported that "The president supports the current law, and he supports reauthorization of the current law"; and WHEREAS, A coalition of child advocacy, civil rights, consumer, domestic violence, gun violence prevention, public health, and faith-based organizations from around the country support the protection of public safety and urge Congress to renew and strengthen the assault weapons ban; and WHEREAS, We cannot afford to turn back the clock on the advances in public safety achieved by Congress; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly and Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature urges the President of the United States and Congress to reauthorize and strengthen the federal assault weapons ban; and be it further Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.