Let me say first, before I write this, that I am NOT a person who feels no one should be allowed to own any gun. But what the hell do we need with assault weapons?!? Insanity!!!

Here's the full text of the comments Kerry made after receiving the endorsement of the National Association of Police Organizations and the National Coalition of Public Safety Officers:

Thank you. It's great to be here at the Thurgood Marshall Center. For so many years, this is a place that has given our children the gift of hope. And today, I am proud to stand with the heroes who risk their lives every day so that our children can live that hope on safe streets in protected communities.

I want to thank the National Association of Police Organizations and the National Coalition of Public Safety Officers for their endorsement today. These organizations, along with International Brotherhood of Police Officers, the International Union of Police Associations, and police officers all across the country are standing with me in this campaign because they know we need to set a new direction for America. And like me, they're tired of a President who takes cops off the streets with one hand while he puts AK-47s back on with the other.

Ten years ago today, with the leadership of Sarah Brady and police officers all across the country, we passed a tough crime bill to protect America. We made sure that criminals couldn't get their hands on assault weapons. And I'm proud I led the fight to put 100,000 cops into our nation's communities where they could make an impact and stop crimes before they happen. And it worked. We saw record drops in violent crime all over America, including gang violence and school-related murders. We saw assault weapon-related crimes drop 65%. Criminals were on the run and communities were able to live in peace because of the tireless work of brave officers.

But then George Bush became President. And when his powerful and well-connected friends asked for a massive tax cut he said "sure," and he paid for it by gutting the COPS program, slashing gang prevention, and cutting enforcement programs that keep drugs like meth off the streets.

Sure enough, over the last four years, crime has made a comeback: 800 more murders a year. Gang-related deaths up 40%. And more school murders last year than even the year of the Columbine shootings.

So when it came time to decide whether to keep the ban on assault weapons, the evidence was staring George Bush in the face: crime on the rise. More criminals looking for more dangerous weapons. Al-Qaeda telling terrorists to get their assault weapons in America. Police officers begging the President to keep the ban so they don't walk into a drug bust staring down the barrel of an Uzi.

George Bush gave them his word that he would keep the ban. But when it came time to extend it and George Bush's powerful friends in the gun lobby asked him to look the other way, he just couldn't resist, and he said "sure." And so tomorrow, for the first time in ten years, when a killer walks into a gun shop and wants to purchase an AK-47, he's gonna hear one word: "sure."

Today, George Bush chose to make the job of terrorists easier and make the job of America's police officers harder. That's wrong. Let me be very clear. I support the second amendment. I've been a hunter all my life. But I don't think we need to make the job of the terrorists any easier.

I'm a former prosecutor who knows what it takes to fight crime. After I returned from Vietnam, I worked in the DA's office in Massachusetts. We put murderers and mob bosses behind bars for life. As President, I will continue to fight crime and stand with police officers in doing whatever it takes to protect our communities and keep our families safe.

Our plan for a safer America puts more police officers back on the beat by restoring every last dime of funding to the COPS program. We'll also put 5,000 new prosecutors in our communities to help our police officers fight crime and put criminals behind bars.

We'll take on gang violence with a zero-tolerance policy and a message to our young people that there is another path. And we'll help local law enforcement shut down the methamphetamine labs that are taking the lives of our children and we'll make it harder to buy the drug in the first place.

Finally, we will always keep ban that keeps dangerous, military-style assault weapons out of the hands of killers and terrorists.

George Bush made a choice today. He chose his powerful friends in the gun lobby over the police officers and the families he promised to protect. The President made the wrong choice. When I am President, we will set America in a new direction with a plan to fight crime and keep our communities safer.

Comments

[Rick]

Crime is at the lowest its been since the government began surveying crime victims in 1973. In the last decade violent crime as measured by victims' surveys dropped 55% and property crime by 49%. This method of analyzing crime strikes me a stupid. To anyone reading this-----Do you believe gov't crime figures (and other figures the gov't gives out)? I can see lower crime than the 80's when crack hit, but was it really more dangerous in America in the 70's? My personal feeling on the assault weapons ban is that it is pointless until all gun laws are revamped and brought into line with each other. A Colt AR-15 was legal last week, and for the last ten years. It is a civilian version of M-16. Another civilian M-16 is the Bushmaster .223 (anyone remember the snipers???). Feel safe yet??? How about knowing the AR-15, .223's and other guns pierce standard police body armor??? I hope everyone is aware that fully automatic weapons will still be illegal as they are outlawed in the 1986 Firearm Owners Protection Act. Do not get worked up over this "ban" lapsing, the very things that made a gun an "assault weapon" were mainly cosmetic, to get military-looking weapons off the street. Other criteria that pushed certain guns into "assault weapons" are things like bayonets---and we all know that's where the danger of of guns lie, right? The stuff below is old news, since it expired.

Specifically, a rifle is considered an "assault weapon" if it can accept a detachable magazine, and possesses two or more of the following features:

Folding or telescopic stock
Pistol grip protruding conspicuously beneath the stock
Bayonet mount
Flash suppressor or threaded barrel
Grenade launcher

For a pistol to be considered a “Semiauto Assault Weapon,” among other things, it must have the ability to accept a detachable magazine, plus two of the following features:

Magazine that attaches outside of the pistol grip
Threaded barrel capable of accepting a barrel extender, flash suppressor, forward handgrip, or silencer*
Shroud that is attached to, or partially or completely encircles, the barrel and that permits the shooter to hold the firearm with the non-trigger hand without being burned
Manufactured weight of 50 ounces or more when the pistol is unloaded
Semiautomatic version of an automatic firearm

"Anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun"--- This shouldn't be, and now isn't, the driving force behind our gun laws. To own a fully automatic weapon one must be licensed by the ATF, same since 1934.