Bush Supports New Extension Of Assault-Weapons Ban

Salt Lake Tribune ^ | 4-12-03 | Shannon McCaffrey

[Unwavering Conservative]

Bush Supports New Extension of Assault-Weapons Ban

By Shannon McCaffrey Knight Ridder News Service

    WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is bucking the National Rifle Association and supporting a renewal of the assault-weapons ban, set to expire just before the presidential election.

    "The president supports the current law, and he supports reauthorization of the current law," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told Knight Ridder.

    Tossing out the ban on semiautomatic weapons is a top priority for the NRA. President Bush said during his presidential campaign that he supported the current ban, but it was less clear whether he would support an extension.

    The White House comment comes just before the NRA's annual convention and as the gun debate overall shows signs of fresh life after several years of near hibernation. Republicans now control the House and the Senate and are using their newfound power to breathe life into the stalled pro-gun rights agenda. This week, they pushed through a bill in the House to give gun makers and dealers sweeping immunity from lawsuits.

    The assault-weapons ban is considered a crown jewel by the gun-control movement, and even though its expiration is more than a year away it is already being watched closely.

    The White House comment surprised those on both sides of the gun issue.

    "That's lousy politics," said Grover Norquist, an NRA board member who leads the conservative pro-Bush group Americans for Tax Reform.

    Joe Sudbay of the Violence Policy Center said it "creates a huge problem for Bush with the NRA."

    "The NRA said they would be working out of the Oval Office when Bush was elected. This creates an interesting situation for them," he said.

    Matt Bennett of Americans for Gun Safety applauded Bush's stance but urged the president to use his political clout to push for Congress to act. If Congress does nothing, the ban could just expire.

    Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the NRA, said Bush's support was somewhat irrelevant.

    "Ultimately, I think this issue is going to be decided by the Congress," LaPierre said.

    If it is, the NRA has reason to be optimistic.

    This week's action on the immunity legislation for dealers and gun makers reflects the interest of Republicans to resurrect the pro-gun rights agenda.

    Congress had been poised to act on the bill last fall, but the deadly sniper attacks in the Washington area prompted a delay. The measure has enough co-sponsors in the Senate to pass that chamber unless Democrats dig in their heels and filibuster.

    Supporters of the immunity bill say it shields gun makers from bankruptcy because of frivolous lawsuits that became popular during the Clinton administration.

Lawsuits filed by cities against gun manufacturers -- modeled on similar litigation against the tobacco industry -- have so far been unsuccessful but have kept gun makers tied up in court.

    The active gun debate stands in contrast to several years of inaction.

    Democrats largely abandoned the gun issue in the 2002 midterm election after some determined that it had been an albatross for Democratic presidential hopeful Al Gore in 2000.

    Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., elected to Congress on a gun-control platform after her husband was killed and her son wounded by a deranged gunman on a Long Island commuter train in 1993, acknowledged that some Democrats are nervous about the gun issue nowadays.

    "But it's coming back. I think you're going to see it popping up a lot this session with the Republicans in control," she said

[PLMerite]

Whatever. I'm tired of being taken for granted as having nowhere else to go.

Heck, I'd rather have a rabid gun-grabbing congress and president than a deal-maker at my expense.

Then at least I'd know there'd be a good *fight*.

[Shooter 2.5]

Most of the union voting dem gunowners do sit out the elections or vote their pocketbook.

The time to defeat the Assault Weapons Bill was at the last election.

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

The Democrats are eviscerating themselves on national security issues, and you want to hand them the White House in 2004 because Bush isn't a perfect conservative candidate.

Sometimes I think we don't deserve to win.

[Unwavering Conservative]

I am not too surprised neither.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I sure as hell won't vote for a Rat in Repblican's clothing.

[Unwavering Conservative]

It sure looks that way. The RKBA is a hot-button issue and the gun rights people probably were the biggest factor that helped Dubya win the Presidency in 2000.

[Unwavering Conservative]

But instead of repealing Clintonian laws, it looks like the GOP wants to extend them?

What is wrong with this picture?

[Unwavering Conservative]

I am most likely gonna sit out the 2004 election, unless Tancredo runs for President.

I would vote for Tancredo.

[Unwavering Conservative]

I don't blame you for feeling that way.

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

If a Democrat--any Democrat--had been in the White House in 2001, the Taliban would be in Kabul, Osama bin Laden would be alive and free, Saddam would be partying in Baghdad, Assad, the Iranian mullahs, the Sauds, and Yasser Arafat would be sleeping easy, the Lackawanna terrorist cell would be in operation (assuming they hadn't all "martyred" themselves in yet another devastating attack), and the new anti-terrorism laws on the books would be aimed at least as much at "far-right" organizations like the NRA, NRLC, and Free Republic as at Muslim terrorist groups.

Do you doubt any of this? And you want to give the Democrats the White House because Bush might sign a law you don't like (and for the record, neither do I), and that makes him "a Rat in Republican's clothing"? You are willing to sacrifice the security of the United States for this?

I despair sometimes, I really do.

[ARCADIA]

It is beginning to look like I'll have no need for my voter registration card in 2004. Nothing send a clearer message to both parties then a record low voter turnout.

[joesnuffy]

When you send young men and women to die in Iraq

You really shouldnt take away their right to defend their loved ones or be in favor of such things or....

against them owning the tools they need to do the job...

It just doesnt look right...especially in light of what your dad did along those very same lines
He clamped down on firearms and then sent troops over seas..

Even more so...

While draft dodging anti USA liberals like Senn Penn and politicians like Ted Kennedy are allowed to carry concealed weapons illegally and their body guards caught with illegally converted machine guns..

[Henrietta]

My attitude is expressed perfectly in Post #20. I'd rather have a dem who I know is going to attack our rights than a pub who swears to uphold the constitution and then uses it for toilet paper.

[Shooter 2.5]

Just out of curiosity, did you actively work for a pro-gun candidate during the last election in order for this Bill to die in committee?

[wastoute]

Bush's father thought he could get re-elected without gun owners, too...

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

So, to sum up your position, you would rather have a President who has a greatly negative effect on your rights, and will not protect the security of our country; rather than a President who will have a somewhat negative effect on your rights, and who will protect the security of our country to the best of his considerable ability?

If you can't have perfection, you would rather have a President who is all bad than one who is mostly good, but less than perfect?

I think I'll quit now. Anything I say from this point onward will only get me in trouble.

[tpaine]

The Democrats are eviscerating themselves on national security issues, and you want to hand them the White House in 2004 because Bush isn't a perfect conservative candidate.
Sometimes I think we don't deserve to win.
-galahad-

So, does party "traitor" now pretty much officially mean "anyone who doesn't like Bush"? Like the liberals use "racist"?

[Stopislamnow]

My support for Bush will die a cold hard death if he supports this ban.

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

Yes, I said both of those things. What's your point?

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

Oh, I see, you added the word "party."

But I never called anyone a "party traitor," so your point is false.