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Semi Automatic Rifle Import Ban (1989)

March 15, 2019

Semi Automatic Rifle Import Ban

  • Wed March 15, 1989 – spring suspension
  • July 7, 1989 – Signed into law
  • 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.

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Date:
March 15, 2019
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