The Last Gun (50 page)

120
. For a more detailed discussion of the illusory effects of the 1994 ban, see Violence Policy Center,
Illinois
—
Land of Post-Ban Assault Weapons
(Washington, DC: Violence Policy Center, 2004),
www.vpc.org/graphics/IllinoisAWstudy.pdf

121
. See, e.g., “Assault Rifles—Dirt Cheap . . . and Legal!”
New York Times
, May 24, 1998.

122
. For a detailed discussion of the industry's ability to evade the 1994 law, see Violence Policy Center,
United States of Assault Weapons: Gunmakers Evading the Federal Assault Weapons Ban
(Washington, DC: Violence Policy Center, 2004),
www.vpc.org/studies/USofAW.htm
.

123
. “Gold Star for DoubleStar,”
Shooting Wire
, July 15, 2009,
www.shootingwire.com/archived/2009-07-15_sw.html
.

124
. “New Products, New Political Twists,”
Shooting Wire
, Oct. 15, 2008,
www.shootingwire.com/archived/2008-10-15_sw.html
.

125
. “S&W Showing New and Announced Products,”
Shooting Wire
, Aug. 19, 2009,
www.shootingwire.com/archived/2009-08-19_sw.html
.

126
. “NSSF Announces Media Resources on ‘Assault Weapons,'”
Shooting Wire
, Nov. 29, 2009,
www.shootingwire.com/archived/2008-l
l-24_sw.html.

127
. “Rebranding is the creation of a new name, term, symbol, design or a combination of them for an established brand with the intention of developing a differentiated (new) position in the mind of stakeholders and competitors.” “Rebranding,” Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebranding
.

128
. “Ruger's Mini-14 Tactical Rifle,”
Gun World
, Aug. 2010, p. 58.

129
. Ibid.

130
. “AR Pistols: The Hugely Popular Rifle Platform Makes a Pretty Cool Handgun as Well,”
Handguns
, June–July 2011. One notable AR-15 pistol owner was the Boston mobster and FBI informant Whitey Bulger. In a July 2012
Boston Herald
column on Bulger's guns, Howie Carr offered this characterization of Bulger's assault pistol by a “gun-loving friend” called Larry the Loner: “Good for bank jobs, small massacres and going out in a hail of bullets if you're also planning on taking out a few guys along with you.” See “Old-Fashioned Piece-Nik,”
Boston Herald
, July 1, 2012.

131
. In files of Violence Policy Center, downloaded July 16, 2012.

132
. “Century Arms' Draco AK 7.62 PDW,”
Tactical Weapons
, Mar. 2011.

133
. A Violence Policy Center website, Cross-Border Gun Trafficking: An Ongoing Analysis of the Types of Firearms Illegally Trafficked from the United States to Mexico and Other Latin American and Caribbean Countries as Revealed in U.S. Court Documents, contains indictments and other documents related to federal gun-trafficking prosecutions filed since 2006, primarily in the southwest United States. The site is available in both English (
www.vpc.org/indicted.htm
) and Spanish (
www.vpc.org/indictedesp.htm
). The website's data and legal documents offer a unique view of the weapons favored by Mexican traffickers not revealed in the trace statistics compiled by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)—the make and model of guns favored by traffickers and the methods by which they obtain such weapons. (While the site's findings offer a snapshot of the
types of firearms preferred by cross-border gun traffickers, the findings should not be viewed in any way as offering an estimate of the overall numbers of guns attempted to be trafficked from the United States into other countries.)

134
. “SAS Gets Handgun That Can Shoot Through Walls,”
Sunday Times
(London), July 7, 1996.

135
. Dan Shea, “Military Small Arms Update: FN's FiveseveN System,”
American Rifleman
, Nov.–Dec. 1999, p. 51.

136
. Charles E. Petty, “FN Five-seveN,”
American Handgunner
, Jan.–Feb. 2000, p. 54.

1
. “18 Rounds in 5 Seconds: How Glock Became ‘America's Gun,'”
Las Vegas Sun
, Jan. 17, 2012.

2
. “Bio: Paul M. Barrett,”
Bloomberg Businessweek
,
www.businessweek.com/authors/1989-paul-m-barrett
.

3
. Paul M. Barrett,
Clock: The Rise of America's Gun
(New York: Crown, 2012).

4
. See, e.g., excerpts from reviews on Amazon: “
Clock
is a riveting tale with masterful pacing and meticulous research. Paul Barrett knows his subject intimately, and it shows. . . . It's a must-read for anyone with an interest in handguns or the firearm industry or even American pop culture.” (Cameron Hopkins, editor in chief,
Combat Tactics
magazine;
American Rifleman's
Industry Insider blog.) “With his customary insight and crystal-clear style, Paul Barrett has told the story of how a simple tool-maker from Austria came to be the dominant force in the manufacture and sale of pistols in the United States. . . .
Clock
is not at all just for the gun enthusiast. This book is for anyone concerned about the level of gun violence in America, and that should be all of us.” (Richard Aborn, president, Citizens Crime Commission of New York City; former president, Handgun Control, Inc.) See
www.amazon.com/Clock-The-Rise-Americas-Gun/dp/0307719936
.

5
. “Clock Targeted the Gun World,”
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
, Jan. 29, 2012.

6
. Examples of Internet marketing of Glock high-capacity magazines include the following:
Glockstore.com
offers “High Capacity Clock Factory Magazines,” including “Super Hi-Capacity Magazines: Clock Factory 33 Rd 9mm / 22 Rd 40,”
http://glockstore.com/pgroup_descrip/3_Mags+&+Extensions/7272_High+Capacity+Glock+Factory+Magazines
.
Botachtactical.com
also offers magazines,
www.botachtactical.com/glockmagazines.html
.

7
. “Our Man at ATF,”
Shooting Industry
, Jan. 2006, 97.

8
. “NSSF Launches National Retailer Organization,”
Shooting Industry
, Dec. 1, 2000.

9
. “NAFR Retailer University Goes on the Road,”
Shooting Industry
, May 1, 2002.

10
. “The Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show and Conference: The Industry Returns to Las Vegas as Manufacturers Unveil Hot New Products and Dealers Sharpen Their Business Skills!”
Shooting Industry
, Dec. 1, 2003.

11
. See, e.g., Richard Feldman,
Ricochet: Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist
(Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2007).

12
. Barrett,
Clock
, 260.

13
. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Office of Strategic Intelligence and Information, “Mexico: Calendar Years 2007–2011 (as of Mar. 12, 2012).”

14
. Ibid.

15
. Ibid.

16
. “Founded in 1976 as a nonprofit organization, the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) is a police research organization and a provider of management services, technical assistance, and executive-level education to support law enforcement agencies. PERF helps to improve the delivery of police services through the exercise of strong national leadership; public debate of police and criminal justice issues; and research and policy development.” See “About PERF,” Police Executive Research Forum website,
www.policeforum.org/about-us
.

17
. Police Executive Research Forum, “Gun Violence in America: One Week, Six Cities, and the Implications,” Apr. 26, 2012,
http://policeforum.org/library/crime/PERFPresentationonGunViolence.pdf

18
. The Michigan concealed-handgun-permit deaths reported by VPC consisted of five pending criminal homicides (including the murder of a law enforcement officer), four criminal homicide convictions, and twenty-nine suicides. Violence Policy Center, “Michigan Reports 38 Deaths, Including the Murder of a Law Enforcement Officer—VPC Concealed Carry Killers April Update,” news release, May 1, 2012,
www.vpc.org/press/1204ccw.htm
.

19
. Violence Policy Center, “Michigan Reports 38 Deaths.”

20
. According to the Congressional Research Service, “For FY2004 and every fiscal year thereafter, Congress has required ATF to include the following disclaimers in any published firearms trace reports: (a) Tracing studies conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are released without adequate disclaimers regarding the limitations of the data; (b) The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives shall include in all such data releases, language similar to the following that would make clear that trace data cannot be used to draw broad conclusions about firearms-related crime: (1) Firearm traces are designed to assist law enforcement authorities in conducting investigations by tracking the sale and possession of specific firearms. Law enforcement agencies may request firearms traces for any reason, and those reasons are not necessarily reported to the Federal Government. Not all firearms used in crime are traced and not all firearms traced are used in crime. (2) Firearms selected for tracing are not chosen for purposes of determining which types, makes or models of firearms are used for illicit purposes. The firearms selected do not constitute a random sample and should not be considered representative of the larger universe of all firearms used by criminals, or any subset of that universe. Firearms are normally traced to the first retail seller, and sources reported for firearms traced do not necessarily represent the sources or methods by which firearms in general are acquired for use in crime.” William J. Krause,
Report for Congress:
Gun Control Legislation
(Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2012), 28, n98.

21
. Angela Jacqueline Tang,
Note: Taking Aim at Tiahrt, William & Mary Law Review
50 (Apr. 2009): 1787, 1798.

22
. Jay Dickey and Mark Rosenberg, “‘Senseless' Is Not Studying Gun Violence,”
Washington Post
, July 29, 2012.

23
. “N.RA. Takes Aim at Study of Guns as Public Health Risk,”
New York Times
, Aug. 26, 1995.

24
. “In America: More N.RA. Mischief,” New
York Times
, July 5, 1996.

25
. “Sway of N.RA. Blocks Studies, Scientists Say,”
New York Times
, Jan. 26, 2011.

26
. Dickey and Rosenberg, “ ‘Senseless' Is Not Studying Gun Violence.”

27
. “18 Rounds in 5 Seconds: How Clock Became ‘America's Gun,'”
Las Vegas Sun
, Jan. 17, 2012.

28
. “Lawmen Uncover Clues in Girls' Killings: Counselors Will Be Available for Students Today,”
Oklahoma City Oklahoman
, June 10, 2008.

29
. “Weapon Info Is Clue,”
Tulsa World
, June 12, 2008.

30
. Ibid.

31
. “Girls' Shooting Deaths Rattle Rural Oklahoma Town,”
CNN.com
, June 10, 2008.

32
. “Two Girls Found Slain Were Shot 13 Times,”
Tulsa World
, Aug. 9, 2008.

33
. “High Profile, High Pressure for Police,”
Oklahoma City Oklahoman
, June 12, 2008.

34
. “Weapon Info Is Clue.”

35
. Ibid.

36
. Affidavit of Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent Kurt Titsworth, filed in support of a criminal information, Okfuskee County District Court,
State of Oklahoma vs. Kevin Joe Sweat
, Case No. CF-2011-126, Dec. 9, 2011, 1–2.

37
. Nebraska State Patrol, “Firearms,” in
Crime Laboratory Manual
,
https://statepatrol.nebraska.gov/crimelaboratorymanual.aspx
. Marks on fired bullets (as opposed to shell casings) can also be examined. The barrels of modern guns have spiral impressions called
rifling
, which impart stabilizing spin to the projectile. “The raised portions of the rifling are known as lands and the recessed portions are known as grooves. When a weapon is fired, these lands and grooves cut into the bullet. . . . The impressions of lands and grooves remain on the bullet after it has been fired. Since rifling characteristics can differ from one firearm manufacturer to another, forensic firearm examiners can determine the type of weapon that fired a particular bullet by examining the impressions of the lands and grooves on the bullet. They examine the width, the number, and the direction of the twist of the lands and grooves. For example, a 9mm pistol made by one company might have a barrel with 6 lands and grooves that twist to the right and another company's 9mm might have 6 that twist to the left. In addition, the width of the lands and grooves may differ. Because each barrel will have imperfections left by the manufacturing process that will leave unique marks on a bullet, firearm examiners can determine whether a bullet recovered from a crime scene or victim was fired from a weapon
taken from a suspect. Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Division of Forensic Sciences, “Firearms Analysis, Basics of Firearms Comparisons,”
http://dch.georgia.gov/00/article/0,2086,75166109_75730713_81669662.00.html
.