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Democrats divided on assault gun ban
Posted by: Admin on Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - 12:28 PM |
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BOSTON Democrats begin their national convention today united on many issues, but divided on how much to make of the Bush administration's refusal to push for an extension of the 10-year-old ban on assault weapons.
The ban expires at midnight on Sept. 13, and Claire Buchan, a Bush spokeswoman, said he would sign an extension if Congress sends him one. But House GOP leaders said they won't schedule a vote unless Bush specifically asks. And they said that he hasn't done so.
Sarah Brady of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said polls continue to show that three-quarters of Democrats and two-thirds of Republicans support an extension of a ban on weapons, and "expect the president" to carry out his 2000 campaign pledge. "We are running out of time to prevent a ridiculous and lethal flood of deadly weapons from being available to every dangerous and disturbed soul in America," Brady said. Rep. William Jefferson D-La., said extending the ban on 19 assault weapons is the right thing to do because "they aren't used for hunting, or self-protection, only to kill people." Nevertheless, he disagrees with Brady on whether to make it a big presidential campaign issue, but acknowledged that many other Democrats share Brady's view. It remains a divisive issue that some analysts believe cost Al Gore several key states in 2000, Jefferson said. But even more important than the volatility of the issue, according to Jefferson, is that voters are most concerned about Iraq and the economy, and they want the Democrats to concentrate on those two topics. Louisiana Democratic Party Chairman Mike Skinner, a U.S. attorney for the western district of Louisiana under President Bill Clinton, said Bush should do what he promised in the 2000 campaign and ask congressional Republicans to extend the assault weapons ban. But Skinner said the issue doesn't have the overwhelming support it did in the 1990s, when crime rates were significantly higher and "people were worried about being carjacked by criminals with assault weapons." "The assault weapon ban helped, and so did President Clinton's call for 100,000 new cops, but the lower crime rates that resulted made the assault weapons ban a less-urgent issue for some," Skinner said. The issue is complicated for Democrats because some party leaders, including Louisiana Senate candidate Chris John, now a U.S. House member from Crowley, strongly support the National Rifle Association position against gun control, which is that aggressively prosecuting lawbreakers is more effective than any gun legislation. Those who helped write the Democratic platform apparently didn't want to place a major emphasis on the gun-control issue, devoting just a single paragraph to the topic. "We will protect Americans' Second Amendment right to own firearms, and we will keep guns out of the hands of criminals by fighting gun crime, reauthorizing the assault weapons ban and closing the gun show loophole, as President Bush proposed and failed to do," the platform reads. John Kerry, who will formally accept the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday, has made much of his love for hunting. During a recent campaign stop in Wisconsin, Kerry hit 17 of 25 clay pigeons at the Gunslick Trap Club. But he has also said that, as president, he would stand up to the NRA and support common- sense gun control. "There is a gap between America's 'Field & Stream' gun owners and the NRA's 'Soldier of Fortune' leadership," Kerry said in March as he voted with a majority of senators to add the assault-weapon ban extension to an NRA- backed bill. Because the extension was added, sponsors pulled the bill, which would have given gun manufacturers immunity from some product liability lawsuits. The NRA has already begun running anti-Kerry ads in Washington, D.C., markets and some cable outlets. "John Kerry, you're not fooling gun owners," the ad says. "They know your voting record is just as bad as Ted Kennedy's. In fact, you've been voting against gun owners for 20 years, all the time, every time." http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-1/109083238286680.xml
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