Friday, August 29, 1997

AK-47 has been at forefront of debate over gun limits

By MIKE BARBER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

The weapon that killed Tacoma police Officer William Lowry, an AK-47 rifle, is known as the mainstay of peasant armies for its durability in harsh wartime conditions.

It was designed for use against soldiers in helmets and body armor -- such as Lowry wore when he was gunned down yesterday -- and it was banned as an import by President Bush in 1989.

Federal legislation signed by President Clinton in 1994 subsequently outlawed the AK-47 among 19 makes of what the law describes as "assault-style" weapons. The legislation limited the magazine capacity of such guns to 10 shots, but exempted 650 named firearms and all guns legally owned when the law took effect.

Gun owners now talk about the weapons in terms of "pre-ban" and "post-ban." Versions of the AK-47 that adhere to new federal rules on what features they can have are still imported legally and sold as the MAK-90.

"The MAK-90 is the government-approved assault rifle, but it still does the same things the AK-47 does," said Shawn Dodson, technical consultant with the International Wound Ballistics Association, and a reserve police officer in Bremerton.

AK-47s already in the United States before the ban can be resold legally, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. But they must not have certain features, and they cannot legally be converted into automatic weapons, which fire many bullets rapidly with one squeeze of the trigger.

House Republicans last year tried to repeal the 1994 law, but the measure did not pass in the Senate.

The AK-47 has been the spotted owl of gun debates, a politicized symbol that stands out because it has been been used by criminals in sensational killings.

On Jan. 19, 1989, Patrick Edward Purdy, wearing an olive-drab jacket bearing the slogan, "Death to the Great Satin (sic)," sprayed bullets from an AK-47 onto a school playground in Stockton, Calif., killing five youngsters ages 6 to 9 and wounding 30 other people.

The incident fueled public sentiment against modern military-style rifles.

Tacoma police aren't saying much about the gun that killed Lowry yesterday -- or about where the suspect got it, whether it was automatic or semi-automatic or even about what kind of bullet-resistant vest Lowry was wearing.

An agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which enforces federal gun laws, said a legal post-ban AK-47 could be made illegal if fitted with a magazine holding more than 10 shots, fitted with a bayonet or bayonet lug, and able to accept a flash suppressor, and with a pistol grip stock.

And no one can own an automatic rifle, much less convert one, without federal approval, agents said.

Gun experts, however, say the AK-47 turned up as a crime gun simply because it has been a relatively inexpensive weapon to buy at one time, for between $80 to $100.

An ATF official said relatively cheap weapons are the major part of the ebb and flow of crime guns, simply because more people buy them up. Guns used in crimes appear in waves. The cheap .25-caliber "Saturday Night Special" handgun, for example, has recently being supplanted by cheap 9mm semiautomatics as the crime gun of choice.

Yesterday's shooting also was a reminder that police vests aren't bullet proof. Instead, they come in varying degrees of resistance.

Dodson, 36, who works full time as a Lockheed Martin field engineer on Trident missiles, said police use two types of armor: Soft body armor that patrol officers wear under their shirts, which makes a grudgingly concession to comfort; and the hard tactical armor that SWAT teams use.

Standard soft armor worn by patrol officers generally is designed to stop handgun bullets, which are usually propelled at the velocities less than 1,500 feet per second, he said.

An AK-47 bullet generally travels about 2,400 feet per second and, like many rifle bullets, can pierce soft armor, but not tactical armor.

Bullets from a U.S. military M-14 rifle, by contrast, can be fired at the rate of about 2,800 feet per second.

Body armor is designed to catch a bullet and keep it from penetrating. A human body still absorbs a bullet's energy, but dispersed over a wider space. Getting hit by a bullet stopped by a vest would feel like getting hit by a Randy Johnson fastball, with a comparable nasty bruise to show for it, Dodson said.

The AK-47 is ballistically similar to a .30-.30 hunting rifle. It has a low recoil, which is why a lot of people get them, Dodson said.

Compared with the wounds hunting rifles and bullets fired from other military rifles can cause, an AK-47 fires "generally a mild-wounding bullet," he said.

P-I reporter Mike Barber can be reached at 206-448-8018 or michaelbarber@seattle-pi.com