Hook
03-03-2005, 09:06 PM
Bill banning assault pistol is introduced
DONNA DE LA CRUZ
WASHINGTON -- The Five-SeveN pistol is small enough to fit into your pocket but packs a big punch _ its bullets can penetrate a bulletproof vest. One of the weapons was recently pulled off the streets of Camden County, N.J., and New Jersey and New York lawmakers want them out of the hands of the public for good.
New Jersey Democratic Sens. Jon Corzine and Frank Lautenberg, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., on Thursday introduced a bill that would make it illegal for anyone except a police officer or military official to possess the assault pistol.
In November, the Homeland Security Department issued an "Officer Safety Alert" regarding the pistol with the headline "body armor defeating handgun." The alert said that the Trumbull, Conn., police department had seized such a pistol and noted that its bullets were "advertised as being able to penetrate 48 layers of Kevlar at 50 meters."
The lawmakers said there is no legitimate reason for members of the general public to own the gun _ you wouldn't buy it for hunting, for example.
"This is not a Second Amendment issue," Corzine said. "Who needs one of these? The only reason is for violence."
The Protect Law Enforcement Armor (PLEA) Act would ban the sale, purchase and use of the handgun and its ammunition by anyone other than a police officer or military official. The bill would also prohibit the gun and bullets from being made in the United States.
Camden County Prosecutor Vincent Sarubbi urged lawmakers to support the bill, calling it a test case.
"If we let this one slip by, the flood gates will open," Sarubbi said.
A Five-SeveN gun was found on an alleged drug dealer in December during a drug investigation in Camden County, Sarubbi said. The gun had been purchased in Philadelphia using a false name and false Social Security number, he said.
Peter Newsham, the assistant chief of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police, said his department recently tested the gun and it penetrated a Kevlar vest.
"The danger of this gun is that it can be concealed," he said. He, too, urged Congress to support the bill.
Michael Barnes, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, challenged the National Rifle Association to defend the pistol, even daring NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre to don a bulletproof vest to have the pistol tested. The NRA did not immediately return a telephone call for comment.
The pistol is made by the Belgian company FN Herstal, which has a U.S. division in McLean, Va. Richard DeMilt, director of sales and marketing for the U.S. division, said the pistol has been approved by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the only ammunition available to the public are cartridges approved by the agency.
The bullets that can penetrate Kevlar vests are sold only to law enforcement and military agencies, and that ammunition is only released and shipped from a U.S. Customs-controlled warehouse, DeMilt said.
That information was little comfort to Bryan Miller, executive director of Ceasefire New Jersey, a group that seeks to reduce gun violence. His brother, an FBI agent, was killed along with two other agents when a gunman burst into their Washington, D.C., office in 1994 and opened fire with an assault weapon.
"There's no such thing as closure," Miller said at the news conference. "Police officers should not have to face this kind of gun."
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj--assaultpistol0303mar03,0,1915701.story?coll=ny-region-apnewjersey
Hook
DONNA DE LA CRUZ
WASHINGTON -- The Five-SeveN pistol is small enough to fit into your pocket but packs a big punch _ its bullets can penetrate a bulletproof vest. One of the weapons was recently pulled off the streets of Camden County, N.J., and New Jersey and New York lawmakers want them out of the hands of the public for good.
New Jersey Democratic Sens. Jon Corzine and Frank Lautenberg, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., on Thursday introduced a bill that would make it illegal for anyone except a police officer or military official to possess the assault pistol.
In November, the Homeland Security Department issued an "Officer Safety Alert" regarding the pistol with the headline "body armor defeating handgun." The alert said that the Trumbull, Conn., police department had seized such a pistol and noted that its bullets were "advertised as being able to penetrate 48 layers of Kevlar at 50 meters."
The lawmakers said there is no legitimate reason for members of the general public to own the gun _ you wouldn't buy it for hunting, for example.
"This is not a Second Amendment issue," Corzine said. "Who needs one of these? The only reason is for violence."
The Protect Law Enforcement Armor (PLEA) Act would ban the sale, purchase and use of the handgun and its ammunition by anyone other than a police officer or military official. The bill would also prohibit the gun and bullets from being made in the United States.
Camden County Prosecutor Vincent Sarubbi urged lawmakers to support the bill, calling it a test case.
"If we let this one slip by, the flood gates will open," Sarubbi said.
A Five-SeveN gun was found on an alleged drug dealer in December during a drug investigation in Camden County, Sarubbi said. The gun had been purchased in Philadelphia using a false name and false Social Security number, he said.
Peter Newsham, the assistant chief of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police, said his department recently tested the gun and it penetrated a Kevlar vest.
"The danger of this gun is that it can be concealed," he said. He, too, urged Congress to support the bill.
Michael Barnes, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, challenged the National Rifle Association to defend the pistol, even daring NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre to don a bulletproof vest to have the pistol tested. The NRA did not immediately return a telephone call for comment.
The pistol is made by the Belgian company FN Herstal, which has a U.S. division in McLean, Va. Richard DeMilt, director of sales and marketing for the U.S. division, said the pistol has been approved by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the only ammunition available to the public are cartridges approved by the agency.
The bullets that can penetrate Kevlar vests are sold only to law enforcement and military agencies, and that ammunition is only released and shipped from a U.S. Customs-controlled warehouse, DeMilt said.
That information was little comfort to Bryan Miller, executive director of Ceasefire New Jersey, a group that seeks to reduce gun violence. His brother, an FBI agent, was killed along with two other agents when a gunman burst into their Washington, D.C., office in 1994 and opened fire with an assault weapon.
"There's no such thing as closure," Miller said at the news conference. "Police officers should not have to face this kind of gun."
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj--assaultpistol0303mar03,0,1915701.story?coll=ny-region-apnewjersey
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