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Semi Automatic Rifle Import Ban (1989)
May 29, 2018 @ 8:00 am - 5:00 pm UTC+0
- Wed March 15, 1989
- Bush Administration
- banned imports of semiautomatic assault rifles indefinitely
- announced by William J. Bennett, the director of national drug policy
- requests from importers to bring in the rifles had nearly tripled those for all of 1988
- Law enforcement officers have complained they are often outgunned by drug-traffickers and other criminals who carry high-powered weapons that fire many rounds without needing reloading.
- Doctors and nurses in major cities have reported sharp increases in the numbers of deaths and serious wounds from such weapons
- firearms dealers attributed the sharp jump in import-permit applications to a fear by the gun-owning public that purchase of the weapons soon would be prohibited
- Stephen E. Higgins, the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, estimated that half the owners of assault rifles are collectors.
