Congress Heads for Showdown Over
Gun Control
By Helen Dewar
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 17, 1999; Page A04
Congress headed yesterday for its first big fight in five years
over gun control as a measure to crack down on firearms sales
on the Internet was added to a list of bills dealing with lawsuits
against weapons manufacturers and other gun issues.
While the fate of the bills remained unclear, they are fueling
passions on both sides of the issue that could make guns a
major battleground on Capitol Hill for the first time since
Republicans took control of both houses after the 1994
elections. The GOP takeover effectively ended the
Democratic-led drive of the early 1990s that produced
legislation requiring background checks for handgun purchases
and banning assault weapons.
Now "there just seems to be a political decision on the part of
Democrats . . . to bring it [gun control] up" again, said Rep.
Bob Barr (R-Ga.), a National Rifle Association board member
and leading foe of gun control legislation.
Kristen Rand, director of federal policy for the Violence Policy
Center, also sees a rekindled interest but in a different way.
"The litigation [against manufacturers] has focused on the fact
that the gun industry is unregulated . . . and that the issue
belongs in the legislative arena," she said.
The tactics have changed, too. They focus less on
comprehensive legislation that would probably not be brought
up by Republican leaders and more on amendments that could
be tacked onto other legislation focusing on what Sen. Charles
E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) called "weak points in the gun lobby's
defenses."
With this in mind, Schumer yesterday introduced a bill to apply
existing gun laws to Internet sales, which he said would have
the effect of restricting such sales to licensed gun dealers and
requiring that Web sites be registered with the U.S. Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Guns could still be advertised
on the Internet but would have to be purchased through
licensed channels.
"Under the anonymity of the Web, strangers can meet on the
Internet . . . and make a sale, no questions asked," he told a
news conference in which he displayed several Internet sites
that offer a wide variety of weapons, from pistols to machine
guns, without requirements for background checks or
compliance with interstate shipping regulations, according to
Schumer.
He said there were "dozens of sites and thousands of guns for
sale" to anyone with a "credit card and a mouse," putting a
"gaping hole" in Brady bill requirements for background checks
of gun buyers. While it is not known how many guns have
been sold over the Internet, one of the gun-sale sites has had
37,000 hits since July, Schumer said.
NRA lobbyist James J. Baker said he saw no need for the bill.
"There are sufficient laws on the state and federal level to take
care of any problem," he said. "It's not like they're doing it in a
dark alley. . . . It's like a modernized classified ad."
Schumer's bill comes on top of legislation introduced or in the
pipeline to deal with a raft of lawsuits recently filed by cities to
seek damages from gunmakers and more recent efforts by
some state legislatures to preclude such suits. Barr has
introduced a bill to prohibit suits by cities; Sen. Barbara Boxer
(D-Calif.) plans next week to introduce a rival measure to
protect the suits from interference by state legislatures.
Bills have been drafted to require child safety locks on guns,
subject gun manufacturers and dealers to consumer protection
requirements imposed on other products, limit the capacity of
ammunition magazines and reinstate a waiting period for
handgun purchases that was phased out under the Brady
legislation, named for former White House press secretary
James Brady, who was shot during an assassination attempt on
President Ronald Reagan.
© Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company
------------------
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"
Gun Control
By Helen Dewar
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 17, 1999; Page A04
Congress headed yesterday for its first big fight in five years
over gun control as a measure to crack down on firearms sales
on the Internet was added to a list of bills dealing with lawsuits
against weapons manufacturers and other gun issues.
While the fate of the bills remained unclear, they are fueling
passions on both sides of the issue that could make guns a
major battleground on Capitol Hill for the first time since
Republicans took control of both houses after the 1994
elections. The GOP takeover effectively ended the
Democratic-led drive of the early 1990s that produced
legislation requiring background checks for handgun purchases
and banning assault weapons.
Now "there just seems to be a political decision on the part of
Democrats . . . to bring it [gun control] up" again, said Rep.
Bob Barr (R-Ga.), a National Rifle Association board member
and leading foe of gun control legislation.
Kristen Rand, director of federal policy for the Violence Policy
Center, also sees a rekindled interest but in a different way.
"The litigation [against manufacturers] has focused on the fact
that the gun industry is unregulated . . . and that the issue
belongs in the legislative arena," she said.
The tactics have changed, too. They focus less on
comprehensive legislation that would probably not be brought
up by Republican leaders and more on amendments that could
be tacked onto other legislation focusing on what Sen. Charles
E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) called "weak points in the gun lobby's
defenses."
With this in mind, Schumer yesterday introduced a bill to apply
existing gun laws to Internet sales, which he said would have
the effect of restricting such sales to licensed gun dealers and
requiring that Web sites be registered with the U.S. Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Guns could still be advertised
on the Internet but would have to be purchased through
licensed channels.
"Under the anonymity of the Web, strangers can meet on the
Internet . . . and make a sale, no questions asked," he told a
news conference in which he displayed several Internet sites
that offer a wide variety of weapons, from pistols to machine
guns, without requirements for background checks or
compliance with interstate shipping regulations, according to
Schumer.
He said there were "dozens of sites and thousands of guns for
sale" to anyone with a "credit card and a mouse," putting a
"gaping hole" in Brady bill requirements for background checks
of gun buyers. While it is not known how many guns have
been sold over the Internet, one of the gun-sale sites has had
37,000 hits since July, Schumer said.
NRA lobbyist James J. Baker said he saw no need for the bill.
"There are sufficient laws on the state and federal level to take
care of any problem," he said. "It's not like they're doing it in a
dark alley. . . . It's like a modernized classified ad."
Schumer's bill comes on top of legislation introduced or in the
pipeline to deal with a raft of lawsuits recently filed by cities to
seek damages from gunmakers and more recent efforts by
some state legislatures to preclude such suits. Barr has
introduced a bill to prohibit suits by cities; Sen. Barbara Boxer
(D-Calif.) plans next week to introduce a rival measure to
protect the suits from interference by state legislatures.
Bills have been drafted to require child safety locks on guns,
subject gun manufacturers and dealers to consumer protection
requirements imposed on other products, limit the capacity of
ammunition magazines and reinstate a waiting period for
handgun purchases that was phased out under the Brady
legislation, named for former White House press secretary
James Brady, who was shot during an assassination attempt on
President Ronald Reagan.
© Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company
------------------
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"