Clinton Calls for Ban on Bullets That Pierce Body Armor : Gun control: The President, speaking in Chicago, cites those who have managed to circumvent laws barring 'cop killer' ammunition.

The President's campaign-like appearance came at a time when he is talking about anti-crime issues to strengthen his hold on the political middle and to preempt the attempts of his GOP presidential rivals. This month, in a striking break with tradition, the White House is spending $2.4 million to televise two campaign-style advertisements that emphasize Clinton's anti-crime credentials to audiences in California and other key electoral states.

But "if a bullet can rip through a bulletproof vest like a knife through hot butter, then it ought to be history," Clinton said. "We should ban it."

Standing on ground recently stained with the blood of fallen police officers, Clinton told an audience in the Austin neighborhood that "clever people" have figured out ways to make powerful ammunition that circumvents current laws to ban "cop killer" handgun ammunition.

CHICAGO — Seeking to enhance his claim to law-and-order issues, President Clinton traveled Friday to gang-scarred west Chicago to demand a ban on any handgun ammunition able to pierce bulletproof vests or other body armor.

Clinton appeared behind a brown-brick police precinct headquarters, only steps from the spot where a rookie policeman was killed March 5 in a gun battle with a teen-age gang.

Officer Daniel Doffyn, wearing a bulletproof vest and trying to apprehend one gang member, was hit repeatedly in the neck by bullets from another teen-ager's TEC-9 assault weapon. Another officer was badly wounded in the same shootout.

No manufacturer is now producing the kind of handgun ammunition that the law is designed to prohibit, officials acknowledged. But they asserted that history suggests there is every reason to believe manufacturers eventually will make such ammunition unless Congress acts to prevent it.

Current laws on "cop killer" bullets outlaw ammunition made of certain materials or having other specifications. But federal officials said that such "specification standards" are not sufficient, now that manufacturers are finding ways to make ammunition from other, more commonly found materials. As a result, they said, new standards, based on bullet performance, are needed.

"We're trying to think ahead," said Ronald K. Noble, Treasury undersecretary for enforcement, noting that manufacturers already have tried to find loopholes in the law banning "cop killer" ammunition by varying the design of their products.

Legislation drafted by the Clinton Administration calls on the Treasury secretary to try to develop performance standards that would ban any ammunition capable of piercing body armor.

Gun-control opponents are likely to fight the effort. They have argued that it will not be possible to develop standards that are uniform and clear.

A National Rifle Assn. spokesman said that there is no need to supplement the ban on "cop killer" bullets that has been in effect since 1986. Tom Wyld said that the ban "works flawlessly" and noted that FBI reports indicate no police officer has been killed since 1986 with a bullet capable of piercing protective armor.

Rep. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) sought in June to amend the then-pending anti-terrorism legislation to extend the ban on armor-piercing ammunition to cover any product that could pierce body armor. His amendment initially passed a House Judiciary subcommittee on a 16-14 vote but stalled when two GOP members switched their position.

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Clinton also faces challenges from congressional Republicans to the 1994 ban on certain assault weapons that he backed and to his plans to have the federal government help fund the hiring of 100,000 additional police officers across the nation.