Assault Weapons Ban

ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, before I get into this hurricane discussion, my eye caught an Associated Press newswire out early this morning. A Miami-Dade County police officer was shot several times after a driver she stopped fired nearly two dozen bullets at her with an AK-47 assault rifle.

The assault rifle ban has been in effect for over a decade. According to the Department of Justice, it expired this past weekend and now AK-47s are allowed to be purchased under U.S. law.

My family has been in Florida 175 years. I grew up in the country. I grew up on a ranch. I have hunted all my life. I have a son who is an avid hunter. We enjoy the outdoors, but we do not hunt with AK-47s. AK-47s and assault rifles are for killing, not for hunting.

Why is it that law enforcement, at every level of government-Federal, State and local-is against terminating this law that prohibited the sale of assault rifles? Why is law enforcement opposed to the termination of this law? For exactly this reason: A Miami-Dade County police officer was shot two dozen times by an AK-47. I rest my case, and I think it is a sad day that we could not reenact an extension of the law on the abolition of assault weapons, primarily for the sake of law enforcement.

I am a defender of the constitutional right to bear arms. I am a defender of the right to have guns of all kinds except when getting to the common sense that it is not worth it in our society to be able to purchase AK-47s.

I yield the floor.