Pete Stark: “As the Subcommittee on Crime begins its consideration of H.R. 3527, the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use…”

“As the Subcommittee on Crime begins its consideration of H.R. 3527, the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act, I urge you to look at the effects of the nation's oldest assault weapons ban, California's Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Control Act of 1989. This legislation went into effect on July 1, 1989. It was passed in the aftermath of Patrick Purdy's shooting spree at a schoolyard in Stockton, California. Armed with an AK-47 and several semiautomatic pistols, Purdy fired over 100 rounds killing five school children and wounding thirty others before killing himself. Now, five years after the passage of this law, I think we can begin to evaluate the law's effectiveness. At my request, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) has provided some preliminary data from the National Tracing Center. These numbers reflect requests to the ARF by local law enforcement agencies for background traces conducted on guns which are suspected to have been used in crimes.”