16 Mar 02

On rifle ownership rules from an attorney friend who works in the area:

"A semi-automatic assault weapon is, by law, any semi-auto with a detachable magazine and two or more of the following: pistol grip, folding or collapsible stock, flash hider, threaded barrel, bayonet lug, grenade launcher, and several other items.

Officers are getting their departments to purchase these rifles for them on department letterhead. The officers are paying for them themselves. There are two dangers, for both the officer and the department. First, there is no excise tax paid on that rifle by the manufacturer. If this rifle ends up in an officer's personal collection, the excise tax laws have been violated, and both that officer and the department will have a tax problem Secondly, the rifle, even if paid for by the officer, is still department property. Most officers and departments do not understand the forgoing.

My personal experience has demonstrated, time and time again, that the Feds (BATF) are not impressed with local police, and have no compunction about making an example of them. Local police will cut each other slack, but BATF will not.

On September 14, 2004, the federal ban on the private ownership of semiautomatic assault weapons and newly-manufactured, high-capacity magazines automatically sunsets. Law enforcement officers and non police alike need to demand that the law not be reinstated. The evidence is clear that this law has not lessened crime, and has only created a legal minefield for police officers and non police, essentially doing nothing but manufacture ‘criminals' where none existed before. It has also severely hindered the development of new cartridges and weapons which might require new, high-capacity magazines."

/John