An Iowa group is calling on Iowa’s Congressional delegation to renew and strengthen the federal assault weapons ban. John Johnson is the executive director of Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence.He says a recent study showed one-in-five law officers who were killed in the line of duty were killed with an assault weapon. He says that means 20 percent of the officers are being killed by a weapon that makes up only two to three percent of the guns out there. Johnson says the ban passed in 1994 will sunset in 2004. He says it needs to be renewed and toughened. He says unfortunately the current ban has not worked as intended by Congress. He says gun companies have been able to make some changes to the weapons and market them as post-ban guns even though they operate the same way. Johnson says they don’t want to ban guns used for hunting. He says assault weapons have detachable high-capacity ammunition clips and pistol grip features you don’t find on hunting weapons. He says these weapons were specifically designed for combat and war. The law banned 19 specific assault weapons by name and other weapons that had their same characteristics.
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