Gun control reappears as political issue
By Sam Dealey in The Hill

Gun control — a divisive issue that has lain dormant so far in the political campaign — will likely come to the fore as the Senate prepares for a series of contentious votes next month.

“2004 is going to be the biggest year in the gun-safety debate since the Brady Bill passed, and there is going to be a lot of pressure on Congress to pass responsible legislation that keeps guns out of the hands of criminals,” said Deborah Barron, a spokeswoman for Americans for Gun Safety (AGS), a leading gun-control group.

“This is an election year, and Democrats and Republicans are going to be held responsible for these issues,” she added.

The most likely showdown will occur over a bill that would shield gun makers from civil-liability lawsuits stemming from to gun violence. Slated for Senate debate the first week of March, the bill has strong backing and will likely pass by a comfortable, filibuster-proof margin.

But gun-control advocates hope to capitalize on the measure’s popularity by tacking on controversial amendments, including a provision sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) that would require background checks for all gun sales at gun shows.

The most contentious effort, however, will be attempts by Democrats to extend the assault-weapons ban, enacted in 1994 and set to expire this year.

“The Clinton gun ban expires on Sept. 13th,” Chuck Cunningham of the National Rifle Association (NRA) noted. “We hope to wake up on Sept. 14th and see this thing’s a footnote in history and the further dismantling of the Clinton legacy.”

Democrats have written two bills that seek to renew the ban on assault weapons. One, sponsored by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), would extend the ban for another 10 years but is far more sweeping in the types of guns it outlaws. Another, written by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), outlaws the sale of fewer weapons but extends the ban permanently.

Leading gun-control groups are split on the proposed measures. AGS backs the Feinstein approach, and the Violence Policy Center (VPC) supports Lautenberg’s. The Brady campaign has yet to throw its support behind a bill.

“All of the [gun-control] organizations have decided that they won’t do anything to hurt the chances of the other bill,” said Jim Kessler, legislative director of AGS. “We’re not going to lose any votes on the left on Feinstein, and there isn’t going to be anyone who says, ‘I’m only voting for Lautenberg.’”

“I’ll concede that if you voted today, Feinstein probably has more votes,” said Kristin Rand, legislative director of the VPC. “But once you have a vote on the horizon, people start paying attention and people quickly understand that improvements are necessary.”

“We support Lautenberg,” Rand said. “We won’t lobby for the Feinstein bill, but we probably won’t oppose it, either.”

“President Bush is going to have to signal to the House Republican leadership that this needs to be taken care of,” he added.

But the issue also causes election-year discomfort for Democratic presidential candidates. The eventual nominee will be contending for votes in such states as Pennsylvania and Michigan, where gun restrictions are widely viewed as an anathema.

Gun-control advocates played down the angst these measures will cause.

“The president supports it. He’s not loudly supporting it, but it definitely gives moderates cover,” Kessler said. “He doesn want this as a campaign issue; I think he wants to get this out of the way.

“Secondly,” Kessler added, “unlike in 1994 when the NRA was warning the sky was falling, people have seen that their guns haven’t been taken away and the sky hasn fallen.”

Both sides acknowledge, however, that while gun control may have broad appeal, the issue is far less likely to mobilize gun-control supporters than its opponents at the ballot box.

“Guns just don’t motivate the latte set like they do the hunters,” a Senate GOP aide said. “You’d think [Democrats] might have learned that from 1994.”

Meantime, the recently enacted omnibus appropriations bill rolls back the government’s timetable in tracking illegal guns. Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) sponsored in the provision in the House. It requires the FBI to destroy gun-buyer records 24 hours after a weapon is sold. The Brady law had required the FBI to retain such records for up to 90 days.