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Letter: Assault weapons law inconsistent

The Columbian
Published: January 19, 2012, 4:00pm

The Jan. 15 letter, “Save law-abiding citizens’ rights,” from Brad Elfring, about the gun violence attributed to “Fast and Furious,” piqued my interest to further research the issue. This led me to read some of the background material on these AK-47-type assault weapons. I discovered that Congress had outlawed assault weapons in 1994. During the Bush administration, Congress allowed the law to expire in 2004.

This has led to purchase of these weapons by persons suspected of gun trafficking to be legal.

Consequently, enforcement officers have had their cases thrown out of court lacking proof that the guns are intended for use by the drug cartel. Stopping the supply of guns from the U.S. to Mexico is hopeless because of the elimination of laws and inadequately funding enforcement.

I agree that the “Fast and Furious” operation was a failure and a very poorly planned operation. However, Mexico is pointing a finger at us and rightfully stating that we also have some responsibility for their ongoing slaughter of people in their country.

This all leads me to the question of who needs to own assault weapons and why has Congress failed to renew the 1994 law.

Doesn’t Congress have some responsibility to protect our citizens?

Frank Divers

VANCOUVER

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