00                      SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 15                                                                    
01 Urging the United States Congress not to reinstate the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban.                                        
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
03       WHEREAS studies by and for the National Institute of Justice, Congressional                                     
04 Research Service, Library of Congress, National Academy of Sciences, and Centers for                                    
05 Disease Control and Prevention have found no evidence that gun restrictions reduce crime;                               
06 and                                                                                                                     
07       WHEREAS a study, mandated by the United States Congress, of the federal assault                                 
08 weapon and large magazine ban of 1994 - 2004 determined that the law had little or no effect                            
09 on crime, in part because the firearms and magazines in question had previously been used in                            
10 only a small percentage of crime; and                                                                                   
11       WHEREAS the 1994 law defined firearms as assault weapons based on factors that                                  
12 are irrelevant to criminal activity, such as the shape of a rifle's grip and other merely cosmetic                      
13 characteristics; and                                                                                                    
14       WHEREAS "assault weapon" is currently defined as a firearm capable of fully                                     
15 automatic fire; and                                                                                                     
16       WHEREAS semi-automatic rifles and shotguns are widely used by sportsmen and                                     

01 hunters and facilitate hunting and target shooting by handicapped citizens; and                                         
02       WHEREAS state and local police department reports show that before, during and                                  
03 since the 1994 law, assault weapons have been used in only about one percent of murders,                                
04 while over 30 percent of murders are committed without firearms of any sort; and                                        
05       WHEREAS many rifles and shotguns that the 1994 law defined as assault weapons                                   
06 are widely used for defensive purposes, particularly for home protection; and                                           
07       WHEREAS magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, which the 1994 law defined as                                  
08 large, are standard equipment on a variety of rifles and handguns designed for, readily                                 
09 adaptable to, or useful for defensive purposes; and                                                                     
10       WHEREAS rifles that the 1994 law defined as assault weapons include the AR-15                                   
11 and M1A, the rifles most commonly used for marksmanship competition and training in the                                 
12 United States; and                                                                                                      
13       WHEREAS magazines that the 1994 law defined as large are the type of magazines                                  
14 most often used for marksmanship competition and training in the United States; and                                     
15       WHEREAS, contrary to the predictions of gun control supporters that the expiration                              
16 of the 1994 law would result in a crime wave, total violent crime has fallen to a 35-year low,                          
17 and, in particular, murder has fallen to a 43-year low, based on preliminary data reported by                           
18 the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 2008; and                                                                       
19       WHEREAS the Supreme Court of the United States, in its decision in District of                                  
20 Columbia v. Heller, 128 S.Ct. 2783 (2008), ruled that the Second Amendment to the                                       
21 Constitution of the United States protects the individual right to keep and bear arms primarily                         
22 for defensive purposes;                                                                                                 
23       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States                                        
24 Congress not to reinstate the 1994 Assault Weapons ban, in whole or in part.                                            
25       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-                            
26 President of the United States and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi,                            
27 Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader of                              
28 the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the                                 
29 Honorable John Boehner, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; and the                                   
30 Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the                                          
31 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.