To the editor of the Star.
In reply to your editorial of August 20, 'Time to outlaw assault-style guns', I'd like to offer the following observations.
First, you claimed that the SKS rifle is a 'knock off' of the AK-47 assault rifle. This is false. The SKS was developed
in 1945 and has a fixed magazine with a 10 round capacity and a conventional shoulder stock and fires one shot with each pull of the trigger. The AK-47 was developed in 1947 and has a pistol grip stock and a 30 round detachable magazine. The SKS is in no way under any conceivable definition an 'Assault Weapon' as it doesn't even have a detachable magazine. The only thing the AK and the SKS have in common is the ammunition. Both rifles shoot the same 7.62x39 cartridge.
Second, the editorial mentioned that 'the SKS fires a 7.62-caliber bullet that is powerful enough to pass through body armor'.
This is true enough, but you fail to mention that almost all centerfire rifle cartridges will do the same thing. Banning rifles that can penetrate body armor would result in banning Grandpa's old Winchester .30-30 lever action or Dad's Remington 700 bolt action. Police body armor is designed to stop pistol bullets, not rifle bullets. In fact, the SKS's cartridge is less powerful than the .30-30 chambered in the Winchester 1894 lever action cowboy rifle. A ban on rifles that can penetrate police body armor would effectively ban 98% of all non .22 rimfire rifles in existance.
Third, Don Davis of 'Don's Guns' needs to get out of his shop and observe hunters in our neighboring states who do use arms such as the SKS for hunting. I know several hunters in Kentucky who use an SKS, as its medium power level cartridge and compact design make it an ideal inexpensive brush hunting weapon for game such as deer. A civilian legal semiauto only AK clone would make a similarly good brush gun for deer due to its size and ease of use.
Finally, rifle ammunition isn't 'designed' to penetrate body armor, it's designed to perform on game. The problem is that police armor is designed to protect against pistol ammunition and rifle ammo is much more powerful than pistol ammo. To sum it up, laws such as the ones you propose would do little to make it safer for the police, but would make criminals out of anyone who owns a 100 year old Winchester lever action cowboy rifle.