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May 8, 2008 7:00 pm US/Eastern
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Officer's Death Renews Call For Weapons Ban
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
The murder of Philadelphia Police Sergeant Stephen Liczbinski has renewed the call for a ban on assault weapons. Until a few years ago, the rifle that claimed Liczbinsk's life would have been illegal.
Governor Rendell and Philadelphia city officials met Thursday to discuss the ban and call for help from the federal government getting assault weapons out of the hands of criminals.
Rendell joined Mayor Michael Nutter, elected officials and police officers, to ask the government for help in the city's fight to get military style automatic and semiautomatic weapons off the streets and market.
Philadelphia wants the government to reinstate a federal ban on assault weapons outlawed from 1994 to 2004. A provision allowed the ban to expire.
According to Rendell, the ban worked. "The national Institute for Justice found in a 1999 that the ban has clear, short-term affects on the gun market, leading to semi-automatic assault weapons becoming less accessible to criminals," said Rendell.
Even though many police departments are arming their officers with assault patrol weapons, to counter firepower of criminals, statistics show assault weapons are only used in two to eight percent of gun crimes; however, it was an SKS assault rifle, in the hands of a bank robber that took the life of Sergeant Liczbinski this past weekend.
"These weapons have no purpose other than to kill and maim," said Rendell.
Officials said reinstating the ban is not a new idea; a bill was introduced to congress in February of 2007, and in Washington it has sat. Authorities hope their latest efforts will turn heads so these deadly weapons are barred from the streets for good.
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