Jointogether, an anti gun group, issued a press release stating:

A study commissioned by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) says that the federal assault-weapons ban can’t be credited for a recent decline in gun-related violence, the Washington Times reported Sept. 1.

“We cannot clearly credit the ban with any of the nation’s recent drop in gun violence. And, indeed, there has been no discernible reduction in the lethality and injuriousness of gun violence,” said the report written by Christopher Koper, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. “It is thus premature to make definitive assessments of the ban’s impact on gun violence. Should it be renewed, the ban’s effects on gun violence are likely to be small at best and perhaps too small for reliable measurement.”

The report found that assault weapons were “rarely used in gun crimes even before the ban.” Prior to the 1994 ban, the report determined that assault weapons were used in 2 percent of gun crimes reported nationwide. Assault weapons were unpopular with criminals because they are expensive, difficult to conceal, and prohibited from importation, the report noted.

It sounds to me as though they are attempting a last minute grab for credibility before pushing for a more strict gun ban. I covered the NIJ study here.

Posted in uncategorized on September 7th, 2004 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |