Gun ban would protect more than 2,200 firearms

February 16, 2013 @ 3:29 pm


This undated evidence photo, provided by retired FBI agent Edmund Mireles, shows the Ruger Mini–14 used by one of the shooters in the deadly April 11, 1986 bank robbery shootout in Miami that left two FBI agents dead and five others injured. New models of this firearm that have folding stocks and pistol grips would be banned under proposed gun control legislation under consideration in Congress. But a similar model without a folding stock would be exempted. Both models can take detachable magazines that hold dozens of rounds of ammunition. Mireles was among the five agents injured. (AP Photo/FBI) | Zoom

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress' latest crack at a new assault weapons ban would protect more than 2,200 specific firearms, including a semi-automatic rifle that is nearly identical to one of the guns used in the bloodiest shootout in FBI history.

One model of that firearm, the Ruger .223 caliber Mini-14, is on the proposed list to be banned, while a different model of the same gun is on a list of exempted firearms in legislation the Senate is considering. The gun that would be protected from the ban has fixed physical features and can't be folded to be more compact. Yet the two firearms are equally deadly.

"What a joke," said former FBI agent John Hanlon, who survived the 1986 shootout in Miami. He was shot in the head, hand, groin and hip with a Ruger Mini-14 that had a folding stock. Two FBI agents died and five others were wounded.

Hanlon recalled lying on the street as brass bullet casings showered on him. He thought the shooter had an automatic weapon.

Both models of the Ruger Mini-14 specified in the proposed bill can take detachable magazines that hold dozens of rounds of ammunition. "I can't imagine what the difference is," Hanlon said.

President Barack Obama has called for restoring a ban on military-style assault weapons and limiting the size of ammunition magazines.

A bill introduced last month by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. would ban 157 specific firearms designed for military and law enforcement use and exempt others made for hunting purposes. It also would ban ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.

Yet there are firearms that would be protected under Feinstein's proposal that can take large capacity magazines like the ones used in mass shootings that enable a gunman to fire dozens of rounds of ammunition without reloading.

Feinstein said in a written response to questions from The Associated Press that the list of more than 2,200 exempted firearms was designed to "make crystal clear" that the bill would not affect hunting and sporting weapons.

The December shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., that left 26 students and educators dead forced Washington to focus on curbing gun violence, a risky political move not tried in decades.

The gun industry, which is fighting any sort of ban, says gun ownership in the U.S. is the highest it's ever been, with more than 100 million firearms owners.

Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden have traveled around the country in an effort to gain support for new laws. Feinstein's proposal is the only sweeping piece of legislation designed to ban assault weapons currently being considered.

But some gun experts say the lists of banned and exempted firearms show a lack of understanding and expertise of guns.

"There's no logic to it," said Greg Danas, president of a Massachusetts-based expert witness business and firearms ballistic laboratory. "What kind of effect is it going to have?"

Feinstein's bill defines an assault weapon as a semi-automatic firearm with a detachable magazine that has one of several military characteristics that are specified in her legislation. Examples of those characteristics include a pistol grip, which makes a firearm easier to hold, and a forward grip, which makes the firearm easier to stabilize to improve accuracy. The definition is similar to the one in Congress' original ban on assault weapons, which went into effect in 1994 and was widely criticized for outlawing firearms based on cosmetic features.

Feinstein was behind the 1994 law which, at the time, protected more than 600 firearms. The current bill would exempt by name and model more than 2,200 firearms by name and model.

Feinstein said her staff had worked for more than a year to draft updates for the ban that expired in 2004, and it was apparent in the wake of recent mass shootings that now was the time to introduce a new bill. She said her staff consulted with law enforcement agencies and policy experts for months to create the expanded list.

Naming firearms that would remain legal under an assault weapons ban is a politically motivated gesture that was used to help pass the original ban in the early 1990s, people familiar with the process said.

Any firearm that does not fall within the law's definition of an assault weapon would not be banned. As a result, the list gives vulnerable politicians cover from constituents who do not want to give up their firearms.

For example, a politician can look at the list and assure a constituent that the government would not ban the firearm he or she loves to use for deer hunting. Under the 1994 law and the currently proposed one, the government would not have the authority to take away guns people already legally own. The ban would only apply to specific firearms manufactured and sold after the law is enacted.

A list of exempted firearms was not part of Feinstein's original assault weapons ban two decades ago, said Michael Lenett, one of the lead congressional staffers on gun control issues in 1994. A separate bill in circulation exempted far fewer hunting and sporting firearms, Lenett said.

The purpose of creating such a list was to assure people that the government was not going after any legitimate hunting or sporting weapons. "The other purpose of the list was to have a high profile way of assuring certain folks _ including legislators _ that we would not be going after their weapons that they use for those legitimate purposes," Lenett said.

"It was a win-win situation," Lenett recalled, because, he said, if the list could help pick up votes needed to pass the bill and temper some of the opposition, it could assuage some opponents of the ban without making the law less effective.

But gun experts say the lists in 1994 and the expanded lists of today don't make much sense.

"The bill demonstrates a shocking ignorance of the product they are purporting to regulate," said Lawrence Keane, senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association based in Newtown, Conn., that represents gun manufacturers. "I have no idea how they arrived at this list. It would seem to be random, bordering on throwing darts at a dart board."

For instance, Feinstein's current proposal includes exemptions for three specific types of the M-1 Carbine, an assault rifle designed for the military that the U.S. currently bans from being imported. A draft of the legislation, created and modified in November and early December last year, banned the M-1 Carbine and didn't exempt any models, according to a copy obtained by the AP.

Feinstein said there was disagreement among firearms experts, law enforcement and gun safety organizations about whether to include the M-1 Carbine on the list of banned weapons.

"It has been used in multiple police shootings, and was originally used by U.S. soldiers on the battlefield," Feinstein said. "On the other hand, it comes in models that would not meet the military characteristics test." She said she decided to limit banned weapons to those that met the definition outlined in the bill.

At a Jan. 30 hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee on gun violence, National Rifle Association President Wayne LaPierre said Feinstein's bill is "based on falsehoods to people that do not understand firearms, to convince them that the performance characteristics of guns that they are trying to ban through that bill are different than the performance characteristics that they're not trying to ban."

The Ruger Mini-14 is a perfect example.

The model that has a fixed stock would be exempted by Feinstein's ban; the weapon was protected in the 1994 law as well. A Ruger Mini-14 with a collapsible and folding stock would be illegal.

The guns fire the same caliber bullet and can take detachable magazines that could hold dozens of rounds of ammunition. The folding stock only reduces the gun's length by 2.75 inches, according to the manufacturer's website.

"It's irrelevant," Edmund Mireles, an FBI agent who survived the Miami shootout, said of the differences in features. "They're equally dangerous."

Mark D. Jones, a senior law enforcement adviser for the University of Chicago Crime Lab, said the folding stock does not affect the firearm's lethal potential.

"Given that both firearms will accept a 30 round or larger magazine, it renders the differences between them entirely cosmetic," Jones said.

Kristen Rand, the legislative director at the Washington-based Violence Policy Center, said the Ruger Mini-14 model that would be banned under Feinstein's legislation is easier to hold while firing because it has a pistol grip, and it's easier to hide because it has a collapsible stock. That's what makes it more dangerous that the Ruger Mini-14 with the fixed stock which would be exempted under the Feinstein bill, she said.

"And that's supposed to save somebody's life?" asked Hanlon, the FBI agent shot alongside Mireles.

Hanlon considered the differences between the two models and whether the events of April 11, 1986, would have been different if the shooter used a Ruger Mini-14 with a fixed stock. "I don't think it would have changed a damn thing," he said. "I don't see what makes that gun less dangerous."

___

Follow Eileen Sullivan on Twitter: http://twitter.com/esullivanap


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Comments (9)


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  • Saltchucker wrote...
    Way to demonize Ruger firearms!
    February 16, 2013 8:51 am
    The Ruger Mini-14 and it's companion rifle the Mini-30 are known as Ranch Rifles. Designed and marketed to ranchers for predator/varmit control from horseback or jeep. They have a designed job related purpose for the farm/ranching community! The attacks on rural living continue. Continue your erudite ways city-folk...you'll get hungry soon enough when you drive people off thier farms.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Drool wrote...
    They May Call them Ranch Rifles
    February 16, 2013 5:40 pm
    ...but they accept a high capacity mag just like an AR-15 and shoot he same round. They just don't have bayonet mounts, flash suppressors, pistol grips, and are not all black which as we all know makes a weapon much more deadly.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Drool wrote...
    The Mini 30
    February 16, 2013 5:41 pm
    ...shoots the same round as the AK-47.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chrisfrommv wrote...
    Drool...
    February 16, 2013 7:55 pm
    Incoorect my friend. Mini-14 shoots a .223/5.56 same as an AR-15/M-16. AK-47 shoots 7.62x39 a much larger caliber. The AK-74 shoots a 5.45 round similar to our 5.56/.223. Either way .223 is a glorified .22 caliber with a larger powder load. About the same diameter of a pencil, maybe a little smaller. where as the 7.62 is much larger. It's a .308. Either way the point stands, and this artical made it very clear. A gun's effect doesn't matter on the size, the capacity or the options. Only thing that matters is the person behind it. Look at the shooter from Texas, one of the deadliest shootings. He used a Remington 700 bolt action rifle. A VERY common hunting rifle. and one that would be protected under this nonsense piece of legislation. Nor will it do anything to help curb gun incidents in this country. Rifle incidents are the rarest of incidents. More people die from erotic asphixiation then to rifles. Criminals don't obey laws, and on, and on. This is a feel good law that will be ineffective, except it will hamper one thing. There very reason the second ammendment was installed in the constitution! Our ability to pretect ourselfs from our own government or a foreign army should we need to do so.
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  • RayR wrote...
    Chris..
    February 16, 2013 8:45 pm
    Yes, the Mini-14 uses the 5.56 round. However, the Mini-30 uses the 7.62x39 round. http://www.ruger.com/products/miniThirty/models.html I agree with you on the rest.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chrisfrommv wrote...
    haha my bad.. Apologies
    February 16, 2013 10:39 pm
    Apparently I missed the big bold letters clarifying he was talking about the Mini 30
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HikerACE wrote...
    The next ban will protect 1,100 firearms.
    February 16, 2013 3:51 pm
    And so it goes, step by step.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Ron_Spins wrote...
    What a joke
    February 16, 2013 5:57 pm
    .
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • beerlover1976 wrote...
    "for hunting and sporting purposes"
    February 17, 2013 12:28 pm
    didn't the us supreme court just rule "the people have an individual right to keep and bear arms for personal defense"? so this legislation ignores the fact that some of these rifles are made for personal defense, even though they be made for offensive actions. but then as the article states, any weapon can be used for a deadly purpose. just wait until they try to take away our defensive foam rubber!!!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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