Bush and NRA clash over assault weapons ban
WASHINGTON -- President Bush and the National Rifle Association, long regarded as staunch allies, now find themselves as unlikely adversaries over one of most significant pieces of gun control legislation in the last decade.
At issue is legislation to be introduced by Senate Democrats on Thursday to continue the nationwide ban on semiautomatic assault weapons. A groundbreaking 1994 measure outlawing the sale and possession of such firearms will expire next year unless Congress extends it, and many gun rights groups have made it their top priority to end the ban. Even some advocates of gun control say the prohibition has been largely ineffective because of its loopholes.
Despite those concerns, however, the White House says that Bush supports the extension of the current law -- a position that has put him in opposition to the NRA and has left many guns owners angry and dumbfounded.
"This is a president who has been so good on the Second Amendment that it's just unbelievable to gun owners that he would really sign the ban," said Grover Norquist, a leading conservative and an NRA board member who opposes the weapons ban. "I don't think it's sunk in for a lot of people yet."
Advocates on both sides of the issue say the White House appears to have made a bold political calculation: That the risk of alienating a core constituency is outweighed by appearing independent of the gun lobby, sticking to a campaign promise and supporting a measure that has broad popular appeal. (hmm...no mention of Constitutionality...wonder why) The president has claimed the middle road -- supporting an extension of the current ban, but not endorsing the stronger measures that gun-control supporters say would outlaw many "copycat" assault weapons. That position has forced Democrats in the Senate to reject plans for a more ambitious weapons ban.
Bush's position "cuts against the NRA's position, and it will put the president -- for one of the first times since he signed the campaign finance reform bill -- at odds with his own political base," said Michael Franc, vice president of government relations at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
"He's built up enough positive political capital in other areas that it won't be fatal," but the issue could hurt Bush in Middle America states that have strong gun rights sentiments and are considered critical to his re-election in 2004, Franc said.
The assault ban issue puts the president in a precarious political spot.
When Bush was campaigning for president in 2000, a top NRA official boasted that the group's relationship with Bush was so "unbelievably friendly" that the NRA could practically claim a seat at the White House.
The NRA has been a major donor to Bush, and the gun lobby and the Bush administration have been in lock step on most major gun issues, including the current push to limit lawsuits against gun manufacturers. The Justice Department under Attorney General John Ashcroft has been a particularly close ally of the gun lobby, pushing an expanded view of gun rights under the Second Amendment and initiating law enforcement changes sought by the NRA.
But White House officials said the assault weapons ban was one case where the president and the NRA did not see eye to eye.
"There are times when we agree and there are times when we disagree," said Scott McClellan, a White House spokesman. "The president makes decisions based on what he believes is the right policy for Americans," He added that the ban had been implemented as a way to deter crime and that Bush "felt it was reasonable."
The White House position has heartened gun control advocates. Matt Bennett, a spokesman for Americans for Gun Safety, which supports an extension of the weapons ban, said: "I think Bush realizes that, number one, this is the right thing to do, number two, he promised to do this in the 2000 campaign, and number three, he knows that it's good politics and this is an extremely popular measure."
The NRA has maintained a polite civility toward the White House over the issue, even though it insists the ban is an violation of the Second Amendment that deprives hunters and sporting enthusiasts of many high-powered rifles.
Chris W. Cox, the NRA's chief lobbyist, said in an interview that the NRA's focus would be on convincing members of Congress to vote against it so that it never reaches Bush's desk. "Do we agree with the administration's position on this? No, we don't, but the real fight is going to be not at that level, but in Congress," he said.
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/0503/08assaultweapons.html