Tens of thousands of the semiautomatics continued to pour into the country until a 1998 presidential order closed the loophole.įrom the industry perspective, manufacturers are merely following the law. Importers of assault rifles, primarily knockoffs of Russian AK-47s, made similar changes after a 1989 presidential order banned such weapons unless they were used for sport. "Their tactic is to associate with sporting activity" to get around the ban, said Kristen Rand at the Violence Policy Center, a gun control group. replaced its AR-15, the civilian version of the M16 standard Army rifle, with the "Colt Sporter." The Sporter was the same weapon, minus a "flash suppressor" and bayonet mount, both external characteristics that did not alter its basic design. After the federal ban became law, Colt's Manufacturing Co. The assault weapons ban, he argued, "is essentially meaningless in having any impact on lethal weapons because the manufacturers decided to circumvent" the law. "It's a fairly common practice," said Jay Wachtel, a criminal justice professor at California State University at Fullerton. They then rename the weapons and put them back on the market, legally. One answer is this: Companies that make assault-style weapons continue to pump out a stream of products, despite a 1994 federal ban, because they have simply altered certain features on their guns without changing the basic design or lethality. Such practices are at the heart of troubling questions raised by the 15 violent deaths in Colorado – how military-style weapons fall easily into teenagers' hands, and why these firearms remain so ubiquitous in American society. The TEC-9 specifically was listed in the measure, but Navegar quickly changed the name to "TEC-DC9." That simple step took the weapon off the list. added the "DC" to the TEC-9 label in 1992 after the District adopted a law making manufacturers liable for gun deaths. It is a story common among gun manufacturers who have artfully – and legally – skirted state and federal laws either by slightly changing their firearms or simply renaming them. Those two letters and how they came to grace the side of a weapon offer a fascinating tale of gunmaking – and remaking. The "DC," according to modern gun legend and court documents, stands for the District of Columbia. The Colorado Pistol With 'DC' in Its NameĮtched boldly on the frame of the semiautomatic pistol that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold carried into Columbine High School last week is a tidy set of characters – "TEC-DC9." To those who know guns, the "TEC" and the "9" signal a mythologized weapon infamous for its use in multiple slayings. : The Colorado Pistol With 'DC' in Its Name