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Last night, during his State of the Union address, President Clinton set the stage for the next round of debates over gun control, when he parroted Vice President Al Gore^s proposal to require states to issue photo licenses to law-abiding citizens before they can purchase handguns. Last July, while campaigning in Boston, Gore stated that, if elected President, he would push for a federal mandate that all states implement their own licensing system for handgun buyers. While this licensing scheme was not contained in the White House^s usual advance notice of the President^s speech, the proposal came as no surprise to NRA. Clinton also reiterated his claim that -- after seven years in office -- he wants to increase the enforcement of existing laws (see last week^s FAX Alert), and made a number of questionable comments regarding crime, firearms safety, and the Clinton-Gore Administration^s record on the enforcement of existing laws, and other gun-related issues.
The President tried to suggest that his efforts led to the reduction in violent crime that actually began the year before he took office. He claimed that the Brady Act has kept firearms out of the hands of 500,000 "criminals," his efforts have led to the "funding" of 100,000 new police officers (and he wants to "fund" 50,000 more), and that "[f]ederal gun crime prosecutions are up 16 percent since I took office." However, virtually all of these claims are specious. Early General Accounting Office (GAO) studies of the Brady Act, before NICS went on-line, indicated that nearly half the "denials" of handgun purchases resulted from administrative errors. And, of course, prosecutions for Brady Act violations have been almost nonexistent. As for the 100,000 police officers claim, an April 13, 1999, USA Today editorial cited an audit by the Justice Department that showed more than 100 communities that received federal grants for new officers through the Community Oriented Police Services (COPS) program (passed as part of Clinton^s 1994 Crime Bill) used the funding for other purposes. The audit supported the claims made by many of the original opponents to COPS, including NRA, that the proposal for 100,000 police officers was nothing more than a pipe dream. Finally, his claim that federal gun crime prosecutions have increased during his tenure is absurd. The most detailed, independent study on this subject, the Syracuse TRAC study (for details, see FAX Alert Vol. 6, No. 34), showed BATF-referred prosecutions dropped 44% from 1992 (the peak year for prosecutions, and the year prior to Clinton taking office as President) to 1998.
But Clinton^s call for a national license to purchase handguns, to be issued by states, has already been met with opposition. NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre aptly asked, "What^s it going to solve? The criminals could care less. They^re not going to stand in line; they won^t comply with it." And lawmakers from both parties have already started voicing their opposition, including NRA Board Member and U.S. Sen. Larry Craig (R-Id.), and U.S. Rep. Ronnie Shows (D-Miss.). The proposal would require that anyone interested in lawfully purchasing a handgun would have to undergo a NICS check and show proof of having completed a "certified safety course or exam" before being issued a photo license. The Clinton plan also calls for periodic checks on anyone who has been issued a license, to identify any licensees who "have become prohibited from possessing firearms" since being licensed. Along with licensing handgun buyers, Clinton also continued his call for a system "to trace every gun -- and every bullet -- used in a crime in America." Such a proposal coming from Clinton can only mean one thing -- proposed registration of all firearms.
In addition to licensing and registration, the President also reiterated his call for $10 million to be set aside as grant money for firearm manufacturers to develop "smart" guns -- research that is already being done by a number of manufacturers, and has been for several years. Clinton^s proposal is not only an unnecessary waste of federal money, but even one of the most rabid anti-gun organizations, the Violence Policy Center (VPC), has stated opposition to such a proposal, noting this technology "...cannot decrease gun homicides or suicides...." Of course, while Clinton offers industry this proposed taxpayer-subsidized research, he continues to hold over their heads the very real threat of taxpayer-subsidized lawsuits.
And finally, Clinton once again raised the specter of the Lautenberg Amendment (which would have put an end to gun shows as we know them today), claiming that Al Gore and the U.S. Senate "faced down the gun lobby" by passing legislation (the Lautenberg Amendment) that would "require Brady background checks at gun shows," and then stating that "the House failed to follow suit." Clinton failed to mention, however, that it was anti-gun House Democrats who assured the defeat of the House legislation mandating NICS checks on all firearm transfers at gun shows, simply because it was not as Draconian as the Senate^s version. It is clear that the Clinton-Gore team wishes to make gun control a top legislative issue, hoping that it will help them and fellow anti-gun Democrats in the 2000 elections. Make sure to continue to contact your federal lawmakers and urge them to oppose the Clinton-Gore gun control agenda, and to support real crime-fighting measures such as the "Project Exile" prosecution model. You can contact your U.S. Senators by calling (202) 224-3121, and your U.S. Representative by calling (202) 225-3121, or use the "Write Your Reps" tool on the NRA-ILA website (http://www.nraila.org).
Uploaded: 1/29/2000
Uploaded: 1/29/2000