Gun groups seek review of assault weapons ban

Josey1

Gun groups seek review of assault weapons ban Monday, October 1, 2001By LAURENCE ARNOLDThe Associated PressWASHINGTON -- Eleven years after New Jersey enacted the nation's toughest ban on semiautomatic weapons, gun supporters want the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the law -- something lower courts and state lawmakers have declined to do.A group led by the Coalition of New Jersey Sportsmen argues the 1990 ban on "assault weapons" is unconstitutional. It has petitioned the Supreme Court to hear the case.The odds are long: The Supreme Court receives roughly 5,000 requests each year and accepts about 80. But the high court is the last chance for opponents of New Jersey's law.Some state legislators tried to overturn the ban in 1992 and 1993, but it is now part of the state's political firmament. Even Bret Schundler, the Republican candidate for governor and a supporter of gun rights in general, has said he would not seek to change it if elected.Gov. Jim Florio, a Democrat, signed the ban into law on March 17, 1990. It outlaws the possession, sale, or transport of certain self-loading firearms or large-capacity ammunition clips.In defining an "assault weapon," the law listed 37 models by name but also covered others that are "substantially identical" to any on the list. The intent was to keep gun makers from making tiny adjustments to banned weapons as a means to circumvent the law.The law applied even to guns bought before its enactment. Gun owners were given a one-year grace period to dispose of affected firearms. Only members of target-shooting clubs could keep their weapons.Robert Viden Jr., owner of a Glassboro gun shop and a director of the National Rifle Association, said he complied with the law by putting his guns on consignment to his shop and locking them in a back room, hopeful that the ban would be overturned some day."They've just been sitting there for the past 10 years," said Viden, one of the plaintiffs in the case.Early on, the gun-rights activists tried to overturn the law politically. They put their hopes behind the candidacy of Republican Christie Whitman, who succeeded in ousting Florio in 1993. During the campaign she called the weapons ban "a lousy law."But in seven years as governor, Whitman never made an effort to overturn it. Nor has Donald T. DiFrancesco, who became acting governor early this year when Whitman became Environmental Protection Agency administrator.The gun groups filed their lawsuit in 1996. In addition to Viden and the Coalition of New Jersey Sportsmen, the plaintiffs include Illinois-based gun manufacturers Springfield Inc. and Armalite Inc. and several other gun owners.U.S. District Court Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez ruled in the state's favor in 1999. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals concurred in March, although it did express unease with the phrase "substantially identical."The gun groups have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case during the term that begins Oct. 1. New Jersey chose not to file arguments, but the Supreme Court requested the state submit a response by Oct. 17.In its filing to the court, the pro-gun coalition says the law is unconstitutional on three grounds:The law is too vague in covering guns "substantially identical" to those specified. The groups point to a 1994 ruling by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that struck down a weapons ban in Columbus, Ohio, as unconstitutionally vague because it covered not just specific weapons but those with "slight modifications."The law violates the right to free speech by focusing on the names printed on guns.The law violates the freedom of association by forcing people to join a qualified gun club in order to qualify for an exemption.Shortly after the group filed its lawsuit in 1996, Peter Verniero, then New Jersey's attorney general, issued guidelines to help county prosecutors define the "substantially identical" provision.But Gary Needleman, a Montville attorney who represents the plaintiffs, said even those guidelines did not clarify the issue. "You have people prosecuted under a law that defies comprehension," he said.Statistics kept by the New Jersey State Police show a gradual reduction in the number of criminal offenses involving semiautomatic weapons, from 110 in 1991 to 70 in 1999.Bryan Miller, executive director of Ceasefire New Jersey, said he is confident the law will survive all challenges."The people who are concerned about the way the law is written are a tiny, tiny portion of the New Jersey electorate," Miller said. "The vast bulk of New Jerseyans see no purpose for anti-personnel weapons like the ones described in the law to be allowed in anyone's possession." http://www.firearmnews.com/ Copyright c 2001 North Jersey Media Group Inc.Copyright infringement notice

landis

Expect the left and the gun control groups to howl over this one. They will scream bloody murder, literally, and we should scream back to drown them out. Expose the hypocricy and dangers of disarming the populace. We can win this one, if we try.

cbxjeff

Josey,Your 7th paragraph was the most distirbing to me. I didn't know any state forced us to turn in weapons that were legally bought before one of the many bans. England, sure. But here? If this spreads, we are doomed.Jeff

landis

First it was "assult" rifles, next it will be any "semi-auto" gun at all, after that it will be any "sniper" type, which includes any hunting rifle. They won't stop until we are only allowed to have muzzle loaders, (if that)unless we oppose them, and even then they won't stop but at least we will be heard. Keep up the fight.