Schwarzenegger signs sniper rifle ban
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| Tue, 09-14-2004 - 9:54pm |
Gun-toting 'Terminator' star Schwarzenegger signs sniper rifle ban
Tue Sep 14, 5:39 PM ET Add U.S. National - AFP to My Yahoo!
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites), despite his gun-toting "Terminator" image, signed a law banning powerful sniper rifles, just after a US federal ban on assault weapons expired.
AFP/File Photo
The governor's signature to the law on Monday meant that California became the first US state to ban 50-calibre sniper rifles, which opponents say can shoot down aircraft and penetrate armour plating.
The film action star who recreated himself as a Republican politician on Monday signed into law the new ban that highlights his policy differences on weapons with the administration of President George W. Bush (news - web sites).
A US federal ban on the manufacture and sale of military-style assault weapons ended Monday with proponents and foes of the measure locked in a bitter dispute over whether it should have been renewed.
Republican leaders fervently oppose the ban, signed by former US president Bill Clinton (news - web sites) in 1994, and while President George W. Bush said he would support extending it, he did not press Republicans to do so.
By signing the first law outlawing 50-calibre sniper rifles, Schwarzenegger, a moderate Republican, has pitted himself against the party's conservative core on the sensitive issue of gun control.
Traditionally liberal California also passed the United States' first ban on assault weapons in 1989, which Clinton made national five years later.
Supporters of restricting the right of Americans to possess certain high-powered weapons said Schwarzenegger's move would help defend the United States from both gun violence and terrorist acts.
"California has once again confirmed its status as a bellwether state in preventing gun violence," said Tom Diaz of the Washington-based Violence Policy Center.
He said the move "not only protects the police and public, but stops the sale of a confirmed tool of terrorists. We look forward to other states, and eventually the US Congress, following its lead," he said

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