Retain assault-weapons ban

Miami Herald: If Congress allows the federal ban on assault weapons to expire, the law's public-safety successes will disappear with it. Lawmakers should not let that happen. The ban is saving lives.
The law prohibits manufacture and importation of 19 types of rapid-fire assault weapons and scores of copy-cats with similar characteristics. In the 10 years since the ban was enacted, its benefits have been undeniable: A U.S. Justice Department analysis shows that banned assault weapons used in crimes dropped by almost 66 percent between 1995 and 2001; they dropped 20 percent in the law's first year, to 3,268 in 1995 from 4,077 in 1994. Murders of police officers by assault weapons dropped to zero in late 1995 and 1996 from 16 percent in 1994 and early 1995.
For these reasons, police chiefs spoke as one last week in press conferences across the country. They want U.S. lawmakers to reauthorize the assault-weapons ban before it expires in September. So do government officials and, several studies show, the majority of Americans.
President Bush supports the ban, but he hasn't been vocal about it. Under pressure from the National Rifle Association to change his position, Bush appears reluctant to repudiate openly a group that supported his candidacy in 2000. But the data should give him ample reason to lead the push for the law's extension. Simply put, we all are safer because of the ban on assault weapons.
Sunset
The ban will sunset on Sept. 13 unless Congress approves new legislation keeping it on the books and Bush signs it into law. Bipartisan legislation would extend the ban for a decade. But reauthorization faces the same heated firefight that the original proposal faced 10 years ago.
In 1994, the ban almost sank a multifaceted crime and safety bill. In addition to the ban on assault weapons, the bill contained other sensible measures: It added 100,000 police officers and funded programs to steer youths away from crime.
The NRA fought hard to persuade lawmakers to reject the ban. It argued that the ban trampled gun buyers' constitutional rights. Its heavy-handed tactics backfired. Several gun-owning lawmakers from both sides of the aisle resigned NRA memberships, and a congressional majority voted to approve the ban.
Lawmakers should stand firm again, rejecting a replay of the NRA's election-year fear-mongering. The law doesn't stifle gun ownership; it makes killing machines harder to obtain. The ban does not affect weapons owned before it went into effect.