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.