House Votes Ban on ‘Cop-Killer’ Bullets : Similar Bill May Come to Senate Floor This Week

The House approved legislation today that would ban the sale, manufacture and importation of “cop-killer” bullets that can penetrate a policeman’s body armor.

The bill passed, 400 to 21, and went to the Senate, where similar legislation could be brought to the floor this week before Congress adjourns.

“This is the biggest legislative victory in years for law enforcement,” said Rep. Mario Biaggi (D-N.Y.), a lead sponsor of the bill with Rep. William J. Hughes (D-N.J.).

Biaggi, who was wounded 10 times as a New York City policeman, said the House had an easy decision to make. “Either you’re for cops or crooks,” he said.

Death Sentences Urged

Rep. Larry E. Craig (R-Ida.) opposed the bill, contending that the best way to protect police officers is to require death sentences for their killers.

Passage was eased by a compromise between the bill’s sponsors and congressional supporters of the National Rifle Assn. on a provision banning willful sales of bullets on dealers’ shelves.

Manufacture and importation--but not sale--of the bullets are already prohibited by voluntary agreements between the Treasury Department, manufacturers and importers.

The NRA originally opposed the sales ban on the bullets, defined in the bill as those made from seven specified metals.

Ban Only on ‘Willful’ Sales

But the gun owners’ group agreed to remain neutral when language was added to ban only “willful” sales, thereby protecting dealers who might unknowingly sell the banned ammunition in unlabeled boxes.

Dealers violating the law would face a loss of their licenses rather than criminal penalties.

“Administration experts say several million rounds may be available,” said chief sponsor Hughes.

Rep. Peter W. Rodino Jr. (D-N.J.) said the bullets have taken the lives of 68 law enforcement officers this year.

NRA spokesman Dave Warner said most armor-piercing bullets now on the shelves are made in Czechoslovakia. The unlabeled boxes include both lead-core bullets that cannot penetrate body armor and steel-core bullets that are armor-piercing.

Punctured Vest Exhibited

“If a dealer sells bullets he knows are armor-piercing, he should be punished,” Warner said, adding that the NRA believes that “there aren’t a great number of rounds on the shelves.”

To demonstrate the bullets’ potency, Biaggi showed House members a bulletproof vest that was penetrated in a test with an armor-piercing bullet.

The vest had a hole that had gone through the front panel, the body substance, the back panel--and would have penetrated 1 1/2 New York City telephone books, Biaggi said.