Looks like we may get him for AG, if so, we may very well have an anti-gunner in that office again, I wish we still had Ashcroft. We don't need an anti-gunner in that office at all.
I don't guess he has any kind of record on where he stands, does anyone know anything about him and his gun stance?
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THE NRA, WHERE WOULD YOU AS A GUN-OWNER BE WITHOUT THEM.
GUN-OWNERS, UNITED WE STAND DIVIDED WE FALL.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales told the Senate yesterday that he supports extending the expired federal assault weapons ban.
Mr. Gonzales also said he wants Congress to get rid of a requirement that would eliminate part of the USA Patriot Act this year, despite complaints that it is too intrusive.
"I believe the USA Patriot Act has greatly improved our nation's ability to detect and prevent terrorist attacks," Mr. Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee in written answers to questions left over from his confirmation hearing.
Mr. Gonzales, who served as President Bush's lawyer during his first term, is expected to be confirmed when the Senate returns after President Bush's second inauguration tomorrow. If confirmed, he would be the nation's first Hispanic attorney general and replace John Ashcroft.
Democrats, including Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York, pressed Mr. Gonzales for written answers to several of their questions during his daylong confirmation hearing. Those answers were delivered yesterday to the committee, which planned a meeting today to consider nominations.
Congress let the 10-year-old assault weapons ban expire in September. The measure outlawed 19 types of military-style weapons, banned certain features on firearms such as bayonet mounts and limited ammunition magazines to 10 rounds.
Mr. Gonzales pointed out that his brother, Tony, is a SWAT officer in Houston.
"I worry about his safety and the types of weapons he will confront on the street," he said. "The president has made it clear that he stands ready to sign a reauthorization of the federal assault weapons ban if it is sent to him by Congress. I, of course, support the president on this issue."
Anti-gun groups criticized Mr. Bush during the presidential campaign for failing to press for an extension of the ban.
Mr. Gonzales also said he supports the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act, the post-September 11 law that expanded the government's surveillance and prosecutorial powers against suspected terrorists, their associates and financiers.
More than a dozen provisions of the law are set to expire by late October unless renewed by Congress. These include authority for judges to issue search warrants that apply nationwide, authority for FBI and criminal investigators to share information about terrorism cases, and the FBI's power to obtain records in terrorism-related cases from businesses and other entities, including libraries.
"I believe the sunsets that apply to several provisions of the USA Patriot Act should be repealed," the nominee said.
Opponents have called the law intrusive and contend that letting the FBI get library records undermines civil liberties and threatens to let the government snoop into the reading habits of innocent Americans.
Mr. Gonzales said people have misunderstood what parts of the USA Patriot Act do. "I am unaware of abuses under the USA Patriot Act," he said. "For this reason, I welcome an honest and real debate."
He did state, however, that he is willing to consider tempering that part of the law that says business and library records must be "sought" for a terrorism investigation. Opponents have claimed that means the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court "” the secret court that approves surveillance and wiretaps for espionage and terrorism cases "” had no choice about whether to grant the subpoena.
"I would be happy for the statute to be amended to state the investigators may ask the FISA court for an order requesting the production of documents 'relevant to' an ongoing foreign intelligence investigation," he said.
Gonzales, may be appointed as AG
