From the SF Chronicle.
Gotta love the "...[SKS rifles] are literally the Saturday night
specials of assault weapons..." quote by Stanley Voyles, Santa Clara
County prosecutor. Tell that to the families of the Americans that
died on Korea, Vietnam, etc. at the barrel of those military-grade
firearms. Governments don't normally license and subsequently
reproduce millions upon millions of unreliable weapons.
Clearly Mr. Voyles wants all assaults carried out with high-quality,
expensive semi-automatic firearms. I guess now we know why
California has worked so hard to spur the sales of AR15s, not
to mention raising the price.
Mike Haas
PS... I have left a message on Mr. Voyles voice mail asking him to
return my call; I'd actually like to hear his response to some
of these questions. For those that feel likewise, Mr. Voyles'
direct number is (408) 792-2735. After all, the legislators
are out of session, so we must turn elsewhere to have
our silly questions on these complex matters answered, and
Mr. Voyles is obviously as smart as they regarding SKS rifles. :-)
PS #2... Assuming a pool of 15.000 detachable SKS's sold,
the 250 turned in so far equates to 1.7%, with 3 months to go.
Do we see another problem on the horizon for Mr. Davis and Mr.
Lockyer? (Poor Mr. Davis and Mr. Lockyer.)
PS #3... Shouldn't this article actually be named
"Illegal-Legal-Illegal-Gun Buyback Slow Going"?
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from San Franciso Chronicle:
Illegal-Gun Buyback Slow Going
Only 250 rifles turned in despite
budget for 5,600
Bernadette Tansey, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 29,
1999
Owners of a semiautomatic assault rifle listed as banned under
California gun-control law 10 years ago can saunter into Concord
police headquarters, plunk the weapon down and walk away without fear
of arrest.
What is more, Concord police property officer Maryann Duncan will
give the owners a voucher worth $230 for every one of the cheap SKS
Sporter-type guns they turn in.
Duncan is one of scores of law enforcement officers across the
state helping to administer a $1.4 million buyback program developed
to deal with the fallout from a feud between gun-control advocates and
former Attorney General Dan Lungren over the interpretation of
California's 1989 assault-weapons ban.
Although the Legislature approved enough money to buy back more
than 5,600 guns, only 250 have been turned in so far statewide, said
Nathan Barankin, a spokesman for state Attorney General Bill Lockyer.
After the January 1, 2000, deadline, anyone who owns, sells or
possesses one of the guns could be charged with a felony.
Nobody knows why response to the buyback offer is so slow, but it
coincides with a surge in gun purchases of as much as 30 percent in
California over the past year.
Lockyer's office is using a Web site, broadcast ads and outreach
to gun organizations to publicize the SKS program.
In a policy that later became a major issue in Lungren's
unsuccessful bid for governor last year, Lungren took the position in
the early 1990s that some of the SKS-series rifles listed in the 1989
Roberti-Roos Assault Weapon Control Act were still legal if they were
originally manufactured with a fixed clip holding about 10 bullets.
But the law clearly covered SKS rifles modified to accept a
detachable AK-47 magazine that can contain dozens of bullets, said
Stanley Voyles, a Santa Clara County prosecutor.
``They are literally the Saturday night specials of assault
weapons,'' said Voyles, who had opposed Lungren's challenge to the
conviction of a San Jose man for possession of one of the rifles. He
said the modified SKS rifles were the cheapest and most popular of the
assault weapons listed in the Roberti-Roos bill.
Lungren reversed his stand before his gubernatorial campaign
began, but that left open the possibility that thousands of gun owners
who had bought the weapons after relying on the opinion of the state's
top law enforcement officer could be charged with a felony.
Gun advocates have estimated that as many as 15,000 of the semi-
automatic rifles were sold during that period, Barankin said.
``The truth is, however, no one knows (how many),'' he said.
The buyback program, which started January 1, includes immunity
from prosecution for anyone who acquired SKS series rifles with a
detachable magazine from 1992 to 1997. Owners can either surrender
them for a voucher that the state will exchange for a check, destroy
them or take them out of state.
Duncan said about eight or nine of the weapons have been turned in
so far in Concord, which is handling the buyback program for several
smaller cities in Contra Costa County as well. Most of the guns had
been used only for target practice, and some of them had never been
fired.
Some owners resent surrendering their guns, but the money helps a
bit, she said. None of the owners has hesitated to give their names.
``You're dealing with the law- abiding people,'' Duncan said.
Some of the owners may be waiting until the last minute to see
whether the laws will change, said Santa Clara County sheriff's Sgt.
John Hirokawa. He said about six guns have been turned in to the San
Jose police, but his department so far has received none.
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