AWB likely to die?

[PABuck_HNTR]

GOP likely to let assault weapons ban die
Kevin Diaz and Rob Hotakainen, Star Tribune Washington Bureau Correspondents

March 12, 2004



WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Less than two months before Election Day, the 10-year-old ban on assault weapons is scheduled to expire unless Congress acts.

But with Congress at loggerheads over gun legislation, it's likely that Republicans will let the Clinton-era ban expire on Sept. 13.

There's widespread agreement that the ban is flawed, but supporters of the ban argue that it should be strengthened, not dropped.

Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., voted to end the ban last week. In an interview Thursday, he called it "more dressing than substance."

Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., voted to uphold the ban, saying the guns' only purpose is "to slaughter indiscriminately human beings."

Coleman's vote represented a change from his position as a candidate two years ago, when he said he would support the ban as long as it did not extend to semi-automatic hunting guns.

Coleman said the difference is studies questioning the ban's effectiveness. "All the studies come to the same conclusion -- little or no impact," he said.

Although most Senate Democrats supported the ban, there were exceptions. Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold sided with the Republicans, saying the ban is more symbolic than effective.

But the symbolism of the issue is sure to make it a hot topic in the presidential race.

"As the deadline for expiration comes closer, there will be a lot more focus on this," said Kristen Rand, legislative director for the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

While Americans remain deeply divided on gun control, polls show wide support for the assault weapons ban. A University of Minnesota survey last year found that 75 percent of Minnesotans supported strengthening it.

19 weapons banned

President Bill Clinton signed the 10-year ban on the sale of semi-automatic assault weapons in 1994. It also banned the manufacture of 19 different weapons.

"Nineteen kinds of assault rifles that have been kept largely out of our country ... for the last decade are going to be back in circulation full force in September unless something else happens," Dayton said Thursday.

Coleman said that while Congress is unlikely to revisit the issue this year, he expects to hear more about it as the election nears.

"There will certainly be those who will try to make hay of it and try to raise fear," he said. "But the reality is, very few criminals use assault weapons."

Several police organizations, including the International Association of Chiefs of Police, have urged Congress to extend the ban, citing a Justice Department study showing that the proportion of assault weapons traced to crimes has dropped 66 percent since the ban took effect.

Nearly 200 sheriffs and police chiefs from 15 states, including Minnesota, signed a letter to Congress last month urging an extension of the ban. Among the signatories were Minneapolis Police Chief Bill McManus and Bloomington Police Chief John Laux.

Despite objections by the National Rifle Association (NRA), the Senate voted 52-47 for an amendment to extend the ban for 10 years. By a vote of 53-46, the Senate also approved an amendment that would have required criminal background checks on all sales at gun shows.

But when supporters attached those amendments to a bill that would have given gun manufacturers immunity from lawsuits, the NRA objected and urged its backers to reject the entire package. The immunity bill was rejected 90-8.

Coleman, one of the top recipients of campaign contributions from the NRA in 2002, supported the group's positions. He voted against extending the ban, against background checks and against the overall bill.

Coleman received $9,900 from the NRA during his Senate campaign, and the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action spent another $7,558 on a direct mailing in support of Coleman.

Dayton, who self-financed his Senate campaign, voted to extend the ban and for background checks. He voted against the bill to give immunity to the gun industry. Both sides plan to use the votes in this year's elections.

"The U.S. Senate had its vote. ... Law-abiding gun owners will have their turn to vote in November," NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre and Chris Cox, the group's chief lobbyist, said in a statement.

Kerry knocks Bush

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said that Americans have "no right to have access to the weapons of war in the streets of America." He criticized President Bush for not doing enough to promote an extension of the ban.

"When he ran for president in 2000, President Bush promised the American people he would work to renew the assault weapons ban," Kerry said. "But now, under pressure, he is walking away from that commitment."

Republicans said that while Bush supports extending the ban, he wanted a gun immunity bill devoid of controversial amendments so that it could pass the House.

While the debate continues, manufacturers have found ways to make minor changes in commercial models, such as the AK-47 and the AR-15, so that they can be bought in the United States. "The ban won't change anything either way," said Mark Koscielski, a Minneapolis gun store owner.

One practical effect of the ban, Koscielski said, is that the market value of higher-capacity "pre-ban" weapons and magazines has dramatically increased. He predicted a drop in their value if the ban expires.

"God bless those left-wingers," Koscielski said. "Because they've made a lot of people rich."

Some gun-control advocates are pushing for separate House legislation that would create a stronger assault weapon ban modeled on California law.

"I know it's an uphill battle," said Rebecca Thoman, executive director of Citizens for a Safer Minnesota. "But it really is a no-brainer for the public."

Some point to "post-ban" types of assault weapons that have been used in high-profile crimes, such as the Hi-point carbine used in the 1999 Columbine massacre and the Bushmaster rifle that was used by the Washington, D.C.-area snipers in October 2002.

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., whose husband was killed in 1993 by a man firing a semiautomatic weapon on a Long Island commuter train, said that whatever the defects in the ban, scrapping it is not the answer.

"Do we actually want on September 14 for anyone to be able to go into a gun store and buy an assault weapon?" she asked. "Is this what this nation is coming to?"

Washington Correspondent Greg Gordon contributed to this report.

[CalHunter]

I am beginning to wonder if Bush isn't sly as a fox at this stuff and no, I don't mean Vicente Fox. Bush publicly states he'll sign the bill to extend the ban if it reaches his desk. All the demos, anti-gun nuts and other assorted liberal nuts praise him for it. Then when anti-gun supporters in the Senate tried to slick an extension past Senate Republicans, it fails. Now the House just sorta isn't gonna be able to get to the issue of extending the AWB until "next year" when it's too late and we should have even more pro-2nd amendment pols in office. Hmmmmmmmmm......

I am beginning to see a whole new side of Bush that I simply didn't know existed. Or is this Dick Cheney (the pheasant hunter) using some of his experience in getting things done behind the scenes? Certainly the NRA, other 2nd amendment groups and all of us who have written Bush or our congressmen and women are to be congratulated for a job well done. Obviously we are making a difference. And anybody who doesn't think this was organized behind the scenes, I'd like to sell you some swamp property in the middle of the ocean.

[etothepii]

"no right to have access to the weapons of war in the streets of America."

Liberal spin against the 2nd amendment. Want to let this guy get in the White House?

[PABuck_HNTR]

Cal, I agree with your post 100%. The Dems have always considered GW Bush to be stupid. He's beat them at every game so far. He knows what he's doing. With the exception of campaign finance reform, I think this was Bush's only real slip.

[strut]

With the exception of campaign finance reform,

Yeah I agree, and CFR went the wrong way in the SC, Bush was thinking that it would get shot down bigtime by the SC but it backfired on us.

Or is this Dick Cheney (the pheasant hunter) using some of his experience in getting things done behind the scenes?

Yeah it might be and the funniest thing about this is they and we did this in a way that the anti-gunners think they scored a big victory, they are so ignorant they can't see that their anti-gun measures that got added to this lawsuit bill is what got it hammered bigtime in the senate. They got it laid to them and they're not smart enough to figure it out.

[strut]

I just wonder what they have in store now, I know they will try and come up with something, we can't let our guard down, not for one minute.

[Briman]

Prediction: If an extended or especially a more restrictive AWB is passed by either the house or senate, the sales of AR-15s and AKs along with parts, magazines and accessories will hit an alltime high. I'm ready to buy a 1/2 dozen AR-15 lowers and a pile of magazines if there's any inkling that there will be another ban, and I'm far from being the only one.

[Bob H in NH]

The thing that makes the least logical sense here is the vote results. Both ammendments passed by close margins, yet the overall the overall bill failed by a landslide.

something doesn't make much sense.

--Bob