Well this might help a little:
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Assault Weapons and Crime
Confronted with FBI data showing that rifles of any type are used in only 3% of homicides, gun-ban sponsor Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) told the San Diego Union-Tribune (1/30/94) "I don't doubt that at all. ..[I]t is probably less than 3%." On CBS's "60 Minutes" (2/5/95) she said, "If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them, Mr. and Mrs. America turn them all in, I would have done it." Even the Washington Post, which supports the ban, admitted "No one should have any illusions about what was accomplished (by the ban). Assault weapons play a part in only a small percentage of crime. The provision is mainly symbolic; its virtue will be if it turns out to be, as hoped, a stepping stone to broader gun control." (9/15/94)
State and local police reports indicate that less than 1% of violent crimes are committed with assault weapons. Criminologist Gary Kleck has determined that less than 0.5% of all violent crimes involve assault weapons. In a survey of State Prison Inmates, less than 1% of criminals reported having carried a "military-type" weapon when they committed the crimes for which they were incarcerated. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Guns Used in Crime," July 1995)
Washington, D.C. -- None of D.C.'s 3,600 homicides 1985-94 involved any kind of rifle. Rifles of any description are used in about 0.15% of robberies and assaults. (Metropolitan Police Department of D.C.)
Florida -- A 1989 Florida Legislature commission found that during the previous 4 years, assault weapons were used in 2.5% of firearm homicides, 0.2% of firearm assaults, and 0.02% of firearm robberies.
California -- A statewide survey of law enforcement agencies conducted by the California Department of Justice revealed that only 3.7% of firearms used in homicides and assaults (roughly 1% of all homicides and assaults) and less than 1% of firearms seized by police for any reason were assault weapons. "It is clear from this data that assault weapons play a very small role in assault and homicide cases submitted to city and county (forensics) labs," the report stated. "Many of these weapons are infrequently seen by law enforcement." The report pointed out that "When this new 'assault weapon' legislation was proposed (1989), the California Department of Justice, Forensics Services (BFS) records indicated that the incidence of 'assault' weapon use was very low."
"Confirmation that 'assault weapons' are unusual in firearm assaults comes from the scarcity of representative specimens in crime laboratory collections," according to the report. "Firearm examiners generally agree that these weapons are infrequently encountered in casework relating to homicides and assaults." In conclusion, the report stated that "the incidence of the use of 'assault weapons' is very much lower than is represented in the media and in political statements." (California Criminalistics Institute, Calif. Dept. of Justice, "Report On A Survey Of The Use Of 'Assault Weapons' In California In 1990," 7/17/91)
Data from police experts were deliberately avoided by politicians pushing California's 1989 assault weapon bill, however, as an internal memorandum to Calif. Asst. Atty. General Patrick Kenady noted: "Information on assault weapons would not be sought from forensics laboratories as it was unlikely to support th