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Voting From the Rooftops
How the Gun Industry Armed Osama bin
Laden, Other Foreign and Domestic Terrorists, and Common Criminals with
50 Caliber Sniper Rifles
Executive Summary
Two years ago, in
its report One Shot, One Kill,
the Violence Policy Center warned that the unfettered sale to civilians
of military sniper rifles presented a "serious threat to American national
security."1 That report focused particularly on the dangers presented
by the 50 caliber heavy sniper rifles, noting that these powerful weapons
of war present a "whole new order of threat" by their ability to "knock
down aircraft, including helicopters, and punch through concrete block,
armored vehicles, and other materials that may be relied upon for executive
protection."2 These devastating features are exactly why Barrett 50 caliber
heavy sniper rifles, for example, are in the armories of U.S. Marine
Corps snipers and at least 17 other armies around the world.3
The report sparked
an ongoing national debate—with the predictable defense of these weapons
by their manufacturers, the National Rifle Association, and other elements
of the gun lobby. But civilian sales of 50 caliber sniper rifles have
not been restrained. This report documents that—to the contrary—the
50 caliber market has exploded. There is an array of new manufacturers,
a proliferation of models, and a dramatic reduction in price. Today,
50 caliber rifles are still easier to buy than handguns: a youth of
18 years can legally buy a sniper rifle, but cannot buy a handgun until
age 21. The difference from two years ago is that he now has a much
broader choice of guns, and the price has plummeted to within easy range
of a modest budget.
Most alarming in
the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon is the 50 caliber's threat as an ideal tool
for assassination and terrorism, including its ability to attack and
cripple key elements of the nation's critical infrastructure—including
aircraft and other transportation, electrical power grids, pipeline
networks, chemical plants, and other hazardous industrial facilities.
This report documents in detail the following facts and others that
underscore the clear and present danger 50 caliber sniper rifles present
to all Americans. It proves beyond doubt that terrorists and other
ruthless criminals now have the means, the training, and the motivation
to inflict extraordinary harm on America with 50 caliber sniper rifles.
- At least
25 Barrett 50 caliber sniper rifles were sold to Osama bin Laden's
Al Qaeda terror network.4 Because sales of 50 caliber rifles
are unrestricted and cannot be tracked, there is no way of knowing
how many other sniper rifles—whether made by Barrett or one of its
many competitors—have been sold to Al Qaeda or other terrorist organizations.
However, at least two, and probably more, Barrett 50 caliber sniper
rifles were sold to the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which used them
to assassinate British troops and Irish constables in Northern Ireland.5
The use of the Barrett sniper rifles in a calculated campaign of terror
by assassination in Ireland won them the epithet "supergun" in the
press.6
- A fundamentalist
Islamic organization offers a two-week training course at a site within
the United States entitled "The Ultimate Jihad Challenge," which includes
"live fire sniper/counter sniper" and "shooting at, thru & from vehicle"—skills
that directly enhance the threat from among any who possess a sniper
rifle.7 The "Ultimate Jihad Challenge" course is among several
advertised on the Internet web site of Sakina Security Services. The
company specifically notes that because of strict firearms laws overseas,
the training must be done "in our 1,000-acre state of the art shooting
range in the United States." Sakina's web site features "Jihad Links,"
including a link to Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, one of the organizations
listed in President George W. Bush's September 24, 2001, order freezing
assets of terrorist organizations. The "Ultimate Jihad Challenge,"
however, is only the most troubling example of the sniper training
that gun industry entrepreneurs freely offer to civilians in the United
States.8
- Terrorism
analysts have warned repeatedly that terrorists may "attempt to engineer
a chemical disaster using conventional means to attack an industrial
plant or storage facility, rather than develop and use an actual chemical
weapon,"9 in other words "to transform a target into a weapon by focusing
on facilities that handle explosive, toxic, or volatile chemicals."10
Fifty caliber sniper rifles are ideal tools for many such scenarios.
Given the Osama bin Laden terror network's interest in chemical weapon
capacity,11 and its vicious use of commercial aircraft as flying bombs,
this is a grave threat. The public version of this report documents
generally how bin Laden's Al Qaeda and other terrorists who have 50
caliber sniper rifles can turn a chemical target into a weapon of
mass destruction, with the potential for thousands of casualties.
A restricted appendix that will be made available on request only
to Members of Congress, federal officials with anti-terrorism responsibilities,
and chief law enforcement officers, examines several specific scenarios
and relates the capabilities of the 50 caliber sniper rifle to those
scenarios.a The VPC believes that it is urgent for the public to
understand the danger 50 caliber sniper rifles present. But it does
not want to give a "road map" to terrorists, even though detailed
descriptions of these weapons' capabilities are already available
from manufacturer advertising and widely published sniper cult literature.
- A 1995
RAND report for the U.S. Air Force specifically warns of the threat
that 50 caliber sniper rifles—like the Barretts obtained by Al Qaeda—present
to the security of aircraft on Air Force bases.12 Applying precisely
the same analysis to civil aviation facilities compels the conclusion
that the 50 caliber sniper rifles now known to be in the hands of
bin Laden and other terrorists are a threat of the highest order to
both commercial and private civil aviation. This threat extends
not only to the destruction of scheduled airliners, but also to civil
aircraft serving business executives, celebrities, and government
officials. The RAND report notes that its logic regarding air base
attacks "would apply equally well to strikes against such valuable,
and vulnerable, installations" as "satellite downlink and control
facilities, oil pipelines, and port facilities—whose destruction could
seriously impede U.S. response to crisis or conflict."13
- 50 caliber
sniper rifles continue to be found in the arsenals of domestic terrorist
and extremist groups, including among others a group in Michigan that
planned to kill the state's governor, U.S. Senator, and federal judges,
and another in West Virginia that plotted to blow up an FBI facility.14
Insurrectionist rhetoric threatening federal officials and public
figures is common on a popular bulletin board catering to sniper rifle
owners and enthusiasts.15
- An e-mail
threat to "kill a well-known political figure" was received by Sniper
Country, one of a number of Internet web sites popular among the growing
civilian sniper culture.16 Sniper Country says it turned the
threat over to the U.S. Secret Service, which reportedly found the
threat to have been made by a minor. The web site has since posted
a "warning to Minors and Militants" advising that it does not support
their activities. Nevertheless, the incident is graphic proof of a
danger the VPC warned of in its first report two years ago—the ability
of widespread "instructional material available in the sniper subculture
to roil troubled minds and teach home-grown terrorists or impressionable
juveniles how to use the destructive capabilities of sniper rifles
to maximum effect."17
This dangerous situation
exists because the gun industry is the only consumer product industry,
with the ambiguous exception of tobacco, whose products are not subject
to basic consumer health and safety regulation. Accordingly, the industry
is free to design, make, and market these products with no independent
review balancing their benefits against the enormous risk they present.b
This report discusses
in detail the real and growing threats that the 50 caliber sniper rifle
in the hands of Al Qaeda and other terror groups can inflict on America
in the new age of unrestrained terror in the homeland:
- Section
One—The Capability of the 50 Caliber Sniper Rifle describes
the capabilities of the 50 caliber sniper rifle and the highly destructive
ammunition for it, readily available on the civilian market. This
section is documented by literature from manufacturers themselves,
like Barrett Firearms Manufacturing Company, citations from U.S. military
manuals, books and other articles written by acknowledged experts,
and experiences of civilian gun owners posted on Internet bulletin
boards.
- Section
Two—The Threats documents the acquisition of 50 caliber sniper
rifles by Al Qaeda and other foreign and domestic terrorist and criminal
interests. It proves false the oft-repeated claim that no 50 caliber
sniper rifle has ever been used in a criminal incident within the
United States, and demonstrates the dangerous link between 50 caliber
sniper rifles and criminals.
- Section
Three—Tools for Terror outlines specific dangers that the
50 caliber sniper rifles in the hands of Al Qaeda present to American
security. In addition to the assassination danger, which is more or
less obvious to the reasonable layperson, this section analyzes the
threat that the 50 caliber sniper rifle's anti-materiel capability
presents to America's vital infrastructure. The latter threat—designed
for war fighting—may be less apparent to the layperson, but it is
at least equal to and may exceed the assassination threat, depending
on the target of either threat. A restricted appendix to this section
is not available to the general public.
- Section
Four—Proliferating for Profit documents the continuing growth
of the civilian market for military sniper rifles, and the 50 caliber
sniper rifle in particular. It describes the nexus between military
development programs and civilian sales of new guns, and the exploitation
of U.S. military resources by the National Rifle Association and other
pro-gun groups promoting the 50 caliber sniper rifle. It provides
background on the sniper subculture, including information on sniper
training schools catering to civilians.
- Section
Five—The Future is Now describes the likely future of the
civilian sniper rifle market, including new models in other heavy
calibers with capabilities equivalent to the 50 caliber sniper rifle
that gun manufacturers are bringing to market. It outlines a program
for action to lessen the danger 50 caliber sniper rifles present,
including most importantly bringing them immediately under the licensing
and registration regimen of the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA).
All other weapons of war, such as machine guns, are controlled in
the civilian market under the NFA.
a) The VPC hopes
that this restricted appendix will encourage those with law enforcement
or counter-terrorism responsibility to "think outside of the box" about
the threat that these weapons present.
b) See the frontispiece
to this report for a list of Violence Policy Center publications examining
other consequences of America's unregulated gun industry.
Back
to Voting From the Rooftops Table of Contents
All contents © 2001 Violence Policy Center
The Violence Policy Center is a national non-profit educational foundation
that conducts research on violence in America and works to develop violence-reduction
policies and proposals. The Center examines the role of firearms in America,
conducts research on firearms violence, and explores new ways to decrease
firearm-related death and injury. |