There are a number of ways of "supporting" the assualt weapons ban that are actually assuring its expiration in September of 2004. Since the extension has to pass both the house and the Senate mjorities are needed in both places for this to go through. Should Bush "support" the continuation of the assualt weapons ban but make it clear to every House member that he is not going to twist any arms whatsoever to get this through we actually get the sunsetting of the ban and Bush gets to say he supported the continuation of said ban thus the Democrats get no campaign issue to run on.
Precisely. The inevitable Dem mudgobbing over this will be MUCH easier to survive if spread over the entire congress than if aimed at ONE man, the President. Sometimes, having a majority in congress means having your OWN "human shields".
We should not forget, however, that all it would take to totally lose at this point would be one semiauto-armed lunatic going sideways in Summer '04. That's your one wild card.
Like I said, CFR would NOT have happened, having been buried by Congress, if not for Enron. Events can drive legislation.