Still picking at the scab of Columbine.
Some key phrases:
". . . when she joined the gun control advocacy group a decade ago, she could put all the gun bill introductions on one page. Last year the list ran to 11 pages with more than 85 bills."
"But the great majority of gun bills originate with Democrats." Boy, THAT's news!
http://www.latimes.com/wires/wpolitics/20000417/tCB00V0119.html
Congress Unmoved by Gun Bills
By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON--Since the shooting deaths at Columbine High School a year ago, members of Congress have introduced dozens of gun control bills but not one of them has become law.
Still, there's a strong election-year incentive to get something done and general agreement has been reached on several measures: trigger locks, bans on high-capacity ammunition clips and a bar against juveniles with criminal records possessing guns.
The biggest and most elusive prize has been a package of gun safety measures the Senate attached to a juvenile crime bill last year. A House-Senate effort to work out a compromise has gone on for more than six months with accusations of bad faith on both sides.
The level of distrust was clear last week when House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., announced he was moving toward President Clinton's position on the last big issue: how long people at a gun show must wait on a background check before they can buy a gun.
But within hours Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the committee, emphatically rejected the offer as "further capitulation by the Republican leadership to the NRA's political gamesmanship."
For the National Rifle Association and pro-gun lawmakers, the best legislation would be no legislation. Their argument is that there are already more than 20,000 federal and state gun laws, and the answer is better enforcement rather than more laws.
"Let us be clear," Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., chairman of the Judiciary panel's crime subcommittee, told his colleagues. Even if trigger locks and other gun safety measures in the juvenile crime bill were adopted, "we would not really be getting at the problem unless we are serious about enforcing the laws already on the books."
But not even McCollum could resist putting a gun bill of his own into the hopper.
Last week, he won House approval for a bill that would provide $100 million in grants to states that impose five-year mandatory minimum sentences, without parole, for anyone using a firearm during a violent crime.
Some 149 Democrats voted for it while complaining they weren't allowed a vote on a bill by Conyers and gun control advocate Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., to include money for enforcement plus gun safety and gun show provisions.
Among other bills introduced this month, Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., has proposed an income tax credit for turning firearms in to the police, and Rep. Steve Rothman, D-N.J., has put forth a plan to help schools improve their security against students bringing guns to class.
Marie Carbone, director of congressional relations for Handgun Control, recalled that when she joined the gun control advocacy group a decade ago, she could put all the gun bill introductions on one page. Last year the list ran to 11 pages with more than 85 bills. "That shows how much interest there is," she said.
For Carbone, bill introductions are useful, even if the bills never get a vote.
"There has to be a way to keep the issue out in the fore. Just because they ignore us we are not going to go away," she said.
Republicans other than McCollum have added their own gun proposals: to allow for the expulsion of children with disabilities who carry guns to school, to protect people's gun privacy and to shield manufacturers from lawsuits.
But the great majority of gun bills originate with Democrats. Other measures this year would: license gun show operators, crack down on interstate gunrunning, make it illegal to keep a loaded gun near a child, ban Saturday night specials, authorize lawsuits against manufacturers and dealers, assist in gun buyback programs and ban people under 21 from possessing handguns.
Copyright 2000 Los Angeles Times
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The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.
Some key phrases:
". . . when she joined the gun control advocacy group a decade ago, she could put all the gun bill introductions on one page. Last year the list ran to 11 pages with more than 85 bills."
"But the great majority of gun bills originate with Democrats." Boy, THAT's news!
http://www.latimes.com/wires/wpolitics/20000417/tCB00V0119.html
Congress Unmoved by Gun Bills
By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON--Since the shooting deaths at Columbine High School a year ago, members of Congress have introduced dozens of gun control bills but not one of them has become law.
Still, there's a strong election-year incentive to get something done and general agreement has been reached on several measures: trigger locks, bans on high-capacity ammunition clips and a bar against juveniles with criminal records possessing guns.
The biggest and most elusive prize has been a package of gun safety measures the Senate attached to a juvenile crime bill last year. A House-Senate effort to work out a compromise has gone on for more than six months with accusations of bad faith on both sides.
The level of distrust was clear last week when House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., announced he was moving toward President Clinton's position on the last big issue: how long people at a gun show must wait on a background check before they can buy a gun.
But within hours Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the committee, emphatically rejected the offer as "further capitulation by the Republican leadership to the NRA's political gamesmanship."
For the National Rifle Association and pro-gun lawmakers, the best legislation would be no legislation. Their argument is that there are already more than 20,000 federal and state gun laws, and the answer is better enforcement rather than more laws.
"Let us be clear," Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., chairman of the Judiciary panel's crime subcommittee, told his colleagues. Even if trigger locks and other gun safety measures in the juvenile crime bill were adopted, "we would not really be getting at the problem unless we are serious about enforcing the laws already on the books."
But not even McCollum could resist putting a gun bill of his own into the hopper.
Last week, he won House approval for a bill that would provide $100 million in grants to states that impose five-year mandatory minimum sentences, without parole, for anyone using a firearm during a violent crime.
Some 149 Democrats voted for it while complaining they weren't allowed a vote on a bill by Conyers and gun control advocate Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., to include money for enforcement plus gun safety and gun show provisions.
Among other bills introduced this month, Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., has proposed an income tax credit for turning firearms in to the police, and Rep. Steve Rothman, D-N.J., has put forth a plan to help schools improve their security against students bringing guns to class.
Marie Carbone, director of congressional relations for Handgun Control, recalled that when she joined the gun control advocacy group a decade ago, she could put all the gun bill introductions on one page. Last year the list ran to 11 pages with more than 85 bills. "That shows how much interest there is," she said.
For Carbone, bill introductions are useful, even if the bills never get a vote.
"There has to be a way to keep the issue out in the fore. Just because they ignore us we are not going to go away," she said.
Republicans other than McCollum have added their own gun proposals: to allow for the expulsion of children with disabilities who carry guns to school, to protect people's gun privacy and to shield manufacturers from lawsuits.
But the great majority of gun bills originate with Democrats. Other measures this year would: license gun show operators, crack down on interstate gunrunning, make it illegal to keep a loaded gun near a child, ban Saturday night specials, authorize lawsuits against manufacturers and dealers, assist in gun buyback programs and ban people under 21 from possessing handguns.
Copyright 2000 Los Angeles Times
------------------
The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.