Clinton Halts Import of Assault Rifles

President Clinton blocked the import of 1.6 million military-style rifles Monday, saying Americans do not need an AK-47 or an Uzi for hunting deer or skeet shooting.

The executive order bars 58 high-powered, foreign-made guns with large-capacity magazines after a finding that they failed to meet an exemption to U.S. gun laws as a sporting rifle. Most of the affected guns were variations of the AK-47 and Uzi semiautomatic weapons.

“They were never meant for a day in the country and they are certainly not meant for a night on the streets,” Clinton said. Fifteen uniformed law enforcement officials stood behind the president in a silent show of support.

The action against assault-style rifles was set in motion last November when Clinton ordered a review of imports of semiautomatic weapons. Members of Congress and others had expressed concern that the weapons, with slight modifications, were essentially the same as semiautomatic assault-style rifles banned in a 1989 decision by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms during the Bush administration.

Clinton said foreign gun makers were making “minor cosmetic modifications” to skirt the law.

The National Rifle Assn. immediately promised to try to overturn Clinton’s ban in Congress. “We believe the people who have responsibility for writing gun laws are the Congress, not the president,” said Tanya Metaksa, the NRA’s main lobbyist.

But Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said: “These guns are the tools of gang members, grievance killers and those who go up against police. They do not belong on our streets and President Clinton is right to keep them out of our country.”

Rep. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who sponsored a 1994 ban on 19 specific weapons and dozens of others with similar characteristics, said he would introduce a resolution in Congress supporting Clinton’s action to thwart an attempt to overturn it. “We can’t let a bunch of gun extremists put lives in jeopardy,” he said.