2000年5月，众议院议员Nancy Pelosi, Pete Stark以及 Carolyn McCarthy给众议院的其他同僚写了一封信，敦促他们不要授予对中国来说意义深远而又梦寐以求的贸易地位，即永久正常贸易关系。在这封信中，三名民主党人没有提及与中国建立这样的关系会产生怎样破坏性的经济或政治影响，也没有提及该国臭名昭著的人权记录。他们提及的是：半自动武器。

From 1987 until 1994, some 42 percent of all rifles imported into the United States had come from China. The representatives noted that an embargo had been imposed in 1994 because, in just a few years, China “had exported almost one million Chinese rifles to the United States—more than made by all U.S. manufacturers combined in 1992.” Conferring this new trade designation, they argued, would effectively unravel the embargo and allow assault rifles like the SKS semi-automatic to become cheaply available again. “What made them attractive was their power and inexpensive price, only $55.95,” they wrote of the SKS, noting its popularity among neo-Nazis, gangs, and white supremacists. The letter concluded, “Don't give China the power to decide gun policy in the United States.” The bill was signed into law that October.

从1987年到1994年间，美国进口的步枪中有42%来自中国。三名议员称1994年实施了禁运，因为在几年时间里中国就“向美国出口了将近100万支中国步枪，这比美国制造商1992年全年产量总和都多。”他们称如果授于中国这个贸易地位，那么将对禁运造成抵消，从而像SKS这样的半自动步枪将再次变得廉价可得。“这些枪支的吸引力在于其火力和不贵的价格，只要55.95美元，”他们这样评价SKS步枪，还称这种步枪很受新纳粹，帮派以及白人至上主义者欢迎。这封信最后总结道，“不要给予中国权力来干涉美国的枪支政策。”这项法案当年10月通过议会变成了法律。

Heated talk about semi-automatic weapons is, relatively speaking, only a somewhat recent development. After being adopted by the army in the 1960s, assault rifles were modified for sale to civilians in the late 1970s, but as late as the mid-’80s, American consumers didn’t express much interest in them. They were pricey and exotic, and to hunters, using a modified army weapon that fired lower caliber bullets than hunting rifles emblemized inefficiency.

对半自动武器的热烈讨论相对来说是近来的事情。1960年代被军队采用后，突击步枪得到改良并于70年代向大众出售。但是到了80年代中期，美国消费者对他们没有什么兴趣了。因为价格高而且不好用，对于猎人来说，使用这种子弹口径比猎枪子弹口径小的军队改良武器根本干不成事。

Here is how Robert Spitzer, a professor of political science at SUNY Cortland and the author of several books on gun policy, frames the way Americans went from being uninterested in assault weapons to being passionate about them. “There’s no real market for the guns [in the ‘70s]. They’re not selling very well,” he says. “Part of it is that they’re expensive and people aren’t really acquainted with them.” But China’s relations with the United States began to improve around the same time that American manufacturers were introducing these semi-automatic weapons. “In the mid-to-late 1980s, the Chinese dump a lot of cheap, knock-off assault-style weapons on the American market,” Spitzer explains. “The cost is far less and there begins to be an appetite for these weapons.”

来自纽约州立大学科特兰分校的政治学教授兼几本枪支政策书籍的作者Robert Spitzer诉说了美国人如何从对突击步枪不感兴趣到对它们充满热爱。“70年代几乎不存在枪支市场。销售情况并不好，”他说。“部分原因是昂贵而且人们不了解这种枪支。”但是同一时间中国和美国的关系开始升温，所以美国厂家开始引进这些半自动武器。“在80年代中后期，中国向美国倾销了很多廉价仿制的攻击性武器，”他解释道。“价格更低，于是人们对这种武器的需求开始增加。”