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INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL (LANCASTER, PA.) Wednesday, September 6, 2000 Section: HEADLINE Front Page: A-1 From staff and wire reports |
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| Pennsylvania ranks among the top 10 states in the number of gun shows, gun dealers, registered machine guns and firearms manufacturers, according to a study by the Violence Policy Center of Washington. | ||
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| The "Gunland USA" study says Pennsylvania ranks second in the country in the number of gun shows, third in gun resellers, fourth in machine gun retailers, seventh in registered machine guns and ninth in the number of firearms manufacturers. | ||
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| The rankings were based on data from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. | ||
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| Local gun enthusiasts said they are not surprised by Pennsylvania's high rankings, given the popularity of hunting in the state. | ||
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| "It's a big hunting state," said Lancaster Mayor Charlie Smithgall, an avid gun collector and shooting enthusiast. "When you have as many hunters as we do, you're going to have a lot of guns." | ||
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| Pennsylvania annually licenses around one million hunters. In 1998, the last year for which statistics were available, that was tops in the nation. | ||
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| "Just look at all the shooting clubs around Lancaster County," Smithgall said. "A lot of people are into shooting." | ||
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| Paul Allison, a member of the board of directors of the Lancaster Muzzleloading Association, agreed with the mayor. | ||
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| "The number of hunters is so high here, I would think we would (rank) pretty high," he said. | ||
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| Lancaster Muzzleloading Association has held a two-day gun show in the county the past 40 years. | ||
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| Many of the guns sold at the show are used for hunting. | ||
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| "I suspect there are a lot of people in the state like me," Allison said. "I grew up with guns. I like to hunt. And I like to shoot." | ||
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| A total of 1,066,032 hunters bought licenses in Pennsylvania in 1998. Texas came in second with 975,943, followed by Michigan, 957,264, Wisconsin, 742,669, and New York, 693,516. | ||
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| According to the Violence Policy Center's study, Pennsylvania had 3,581 licensed gun dealers, 16 pawnbrokers, 90 machine gun dealers and just over 13,000 machine guns, and eight licensed gun makers as of January. | ||
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| The state also hosted 250 gun shows in 1998, the study said. | ||
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| Texas ranked first in all five categories. Pennsylvania, California, Florida and Ohio were the only other states to be in the top 10 in the five categories. | ||
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| The Violence Policy Center examines the role of guns in America, trends and patterns in gun violence, and the development of policies aimed at reducing gun-related deaths and injuries. | ||
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| A VERY FUNNY " IRAQI BOB " WEBSITE: " WE LOVE THE IRAQI INFORMATION MINISTER " |
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( It began on Thursday, September 9, 1971 about 8:50 a.m. ) |
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