Posted on 05/14/2003 2:32:06 PM PDT by Godebert
By JIM ABRAMS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) -
President Bush should take the lead in overcoming resistance within his own party to extending an assault weapons ban due to expire next year, Democrats said Wednesday.
"If the bill dies we will lay it at the president's doorstep," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said a day after House Majority Leader Tom DeLay told reporters that the 1994 law banning the manufacture of 19 types of common military-style assault weapons would not be renewed.
Schumer said the gun bill would be an issue in the 2004 election, a development that could pose problems for Democrats who represent districts with strong gun rights sentiment. The assault ban vote was also a campaign topic in 1994, the year Republicans recaptured the House after spending 40 years in the minority.
Bush, taking a position at odds with the National Rifle Association, has voiced support for extending the ban, and White House spokesman Ari Fleischer on Wednesday said that support would carry weight in Congress.
"This is a matter that the House has to work out, of course, by listening to the will of its members, but the president's position is clear on it," Fleischer said. "When the president states his position like that, it helps get the message to the Congress."
Fleischer would not say whether Bush would pressure DeLay to bring such a bill up for a vote. DeLay, R-Texas, on Tuesday indicated that there would be no effort to renew the current law before it expires on Sept. 13, 2004. "The votes in the House are not there to reauthorize it," he said.
"The real question is will the president weigh in and ask the leaders to schedule a vote," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., who as a senior adviser to President Clinton played a key role in guiding the 1994 legislation through Congress.
(Excerpt) Read more at lasvegassun.com ...
To: Amelia
I think "he" needs to forget about Ann Coulter for a while and meet Jenny Craig.
151 posted on 05/14/2003 9:02 PM CDT by CWOJackson (One nice thing about libertarians...they all tend to be paranoids.)
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Maybe you ought to ping CWO Jackson and ask him, but I know you're afraid of men.
Is that why you didn't bother to ping him either?
Gosh...all that effort to find a post and it has nothing to do with me. You are one smart guy, aren't you?
Wow, a real life psychic on FR! What else do you know, oh great holy one?
Like I said, you are in my prayers. I worry about you.
Yeah I can see that I gave you reason to think that.
Geez....is there any of your little quartet that can get close to clever? Maybe you ought to get a consultant.
Funny that until you posted again, I forgot all about you.
You ought to try to get over things more easily. It's not good for your health and you really do give yourself away.
I wish I could say the same, but I won't lie.
I do, however, worry about the people on the road if you drive and maybe your neighbors too.
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