Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2004 | 11:13 a.m.
Center Mass Firearms is closed on Mondays, but owner Leon Novak unlocked his doors after gun enthusiasts showed up at his store wanting to purchase assault weapons that became legal after a 10-year ban.
"There were people coming to the door, knocking," Novak said from his shop on Boulder Highway in Henderson. "People started begging for me to open the store."
The ban, which had been signed by President Clinton as an anti-crime measure, outlawed by name 19 types of military-style assault weapons with characteristics like bayonet mounts. It also limited ammunition magazines to 10 rounds.
It expired after midnight Monday, and now those firearms can be legally purchased.
But some of the 19 -- foreign weapons such as the Russian-made AK-47 and the Israeli-made Uzi -- are still banned under a 1989 law prohibiting imports of certain semi-automatic weapons.
In preparation for the end of the ban, Novak had ordered extra assault rifles that had previously been available only to law enforcement officers. Within a few hours he had sold 10 at $1,695 each.
Novak called the ending of the ban "the best thing that could happen."
Jon Call, owner of Citadel Gun & Safe at 4305 S. Industrial Road, called the ban "a joke." It didn't outlaw guns, he said, it outlawed some features but didn't alter the overall function of the weapons.
"Not a whole lot was changed," Call said. "The ban didn't necessarily do anything."
Before the ban expired, President Bush said he would sign a bill renewing it if Congress passed it, but there was little support for it among Republican lawmakers, who control both the House and Senate.
Gun control advocates such as the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence opposed the lifting of the ban, while local police said the end of the ban was of little concern.
Assault rifles never went away during the ban, police pointed out. Loopholes allowed manufacturers to keep many weapons on the market by changing their names or altering some of their features and accessories, and they were easily available through illegal means.
Lt. Stan Olsen, head of Metro's intergovernmental services office, said the department supports any law that helps get guns out of the hands of criminals, but he said the ban expiring probably won't have much of an effect on crime.
"If the criminals wanted to get those guns at any point in the last 10 years, they were available on the illegal market," Olsen said. "I don't think it's going to be a drastic change for the law enforcement community."
"The only thing I can imagine happening is there could be a greater chance of people purchasing them and having them in their homes where they could get stolen," he said, adding that people who buy these firearms should keep them secured in a safe.
Sgt. Jim Siwy of Metro's firearms investigation team said his unit impounds 250 to 300 guns per year, and a very small number are assault weapons.
Handguns are the most commonly seized weapons, followed by hunting rifles and shotguns.
Criminals aren't going to be the ones buying the newly legal weapons, Siwy said.
"I don't think the public needs to panic," he said.
Officer Tim Bedwell, spokesman for North Las Vegas Police, said the ending of the ban is a political issue and the department had no official stance on it, but he said, "We're not afraid of it. We're not looking at the clock and saying, 'The streets are going to be more dangerous.' "
Ron Montoya, owner of American Shooters Supply and Gun Club at 3440 Arville St., said a lot of people -- including security officers -- have been calling and coming into the store to ask about the weapons.
He ordered a supply in anticipation of the ban being lifted and he will begin selling them today.
Montoya caters to the recreational shooter, he said, and a feature that many are excited about are magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.
The ban tied the hands of gun enthusiasts who wanted bells and whistles on their weapons, but it didn't keep criminals from getting assault weapons, Montoya said.
A series of murders involving assault rifles in the early 1990s "allowed the politicians to make up stupid laws and come up with ridiculous means to curb the criminal element."
"It was plain, blatant stupidity," he said. "It did nothing."
But Sarah Brady, head of the campaign to keep the ban, blamed the power of the NRA for making it hard to get Congress to renew the ban in an election year.
A bill was introduced in February that seeks to extend the ban for another 10 years. No Nevada lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors, but 137 lawmakers from other states have.
More than 500,000 petitions were being delivered last week to Bush, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Bill Frist asking them to stop blocking renewal of the ban. On Friday morning, the White House had officially refused to meet with law enforcement leaders about keeping the ban in place.
Brady Campaign officials pointed out that already there are signs of what may happen now that more assault weapons will be more readily available.
In Dade County, Fla., on Sunday, a police officer was attacked by an AK-47-wielding assailant. She was shot at least twice, and her police cruiser was left in flames. The gunman reportedly fired about two dozen times. At last report the officer was in stable condition.
Brady, whose husband was wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, said the measure's time will come.
"We'll eventually get assault-weapons legislation passed," she said. "The question is whether it's before or after the election."
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