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Now, I ask you what legitimate purpose can private citizens have for purchasing such weapons? How would you feel if you saw your neighbor in his backyard tinkering with a mortar or an antitank gun? Moreover, I appreciate that there is an element of humor-I see it most definitely. But there is also a serious overtone some militants who apparently believe that antitank guns are not sufficient protection have purchased antiaircraft guns. As you can see from these reproduced pages which I have here and which I will make available to the committee these are reproduced from a gun catalog, these things also are not hard to come by. We know of at least one man in a suburb of Los Angeles who owns such a weapon. I am glad I do not live next door to him.

Apparently, the Santa Barbara owner of a 37-millimeter Germanmade cannon decided to dispose of the unwieldy weapon by leaving it on the courthouse lawn. If this were an American Army weapon, we could possibly trace the owner so the city could bill him for their costs of disposal of the weapon. Surplus imports defy normal tracing procedures.

(Photograph of the item referred to was marked "Exhibit No. 15" and is as follows:)

I also submit these photographs of an unfortunately not unique gunshop offering such items for sale. It is located in Oceanside, Calif. These are offered for sale by a gunshop-mortars, bazookas, machineguns, and other items of heavy weapons which are, perhaps, more aptly described in this bill as "destructive devices."

(The photographs referred to were marked "Exhibits Nos. 16, 17, and 18" and are as follows:)

Not only Minutemen and other militants are interested in "destructive devices." A hobbyist group in the San Francisco Bay area has as its motto, "If Your Shooting's Gone Stale-Try a Cannon."

This group uses both 20-millimeter Lahti antitank guns and 25-millimeter Hotchkiss and Peteau cannons, as well as antique weapons.

At a time when it requires great ingenuity to find safe places for rifle and pistol shooting in our crowded State, these people are wandering around looking for a place to fire their cannons.