I admit to being very ignorant on gun laws, so can you give me a link where Bush wants to enact a 'new' one?
The "assault weapon ban" passed in 1994 contained within it its own "sunset" period. It was going to become null and void 10 years after it was enacted. That's going to take place in the summer of 2004.
If nothing is done, the assault weapon ban will vaporize and be null and void in 2004.
His wording notwithstanding, there's no way to simply "reauthorize" the current law. It's toast in 2004, dead as a doornail. The only way to to keep it from dying is to introduce a *new* bill and pass it. At a bare minimum, that new bill would have to specifically require the removal of the expiration clause from the original law's language in the US Code, prior to the "drop dead" date. This would be a *new* gun law that had the effect of keeping the old one alive.
But even worse, you *know* there's no way they can pass such a bill without every anti-gunner in existence trying to stuff *new* clauses and restrictions into it at the same time. As long as you're trying to pass a bill which "edits" existing gun control law, why not tweak who knows what *else* at the same time to "refine" it?
To make matters worse, this is going to be *right* before the elections (so was the original 1994 bill, it was passed to curry favor with Democratic voters), and it's going to be a huge hot-potato issue. So expect a great deal of pandering and wobbly-kneedness to occur instead of the careful consideration that a bill of this type truly requires...
It's going to get ugly.