http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/05/09/guns.reut/index.html
Lawmakers unveil gun licensing proposal
By Joanne Kenen
Reuters
May 9, 2000
Web posted at: 5:42 p.m. EDT (2142 GMT)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers who back tougher gun control Tuesday unveiled a bill
that would require gun owners to be licensed and gun sales to be recorded, a dramatic proposal
that even its sponsors acknowledge cannot be enacted this year.
Flanked by women who are organizing this weekend's Million Mom March on Washington for
gun control, lead sponsor California Democrat Dianne Feinstein said that if car drivers are
licensed, gun owners should be.
Feinstein said she knew that this bill could not be enacted by the current Congress, which has
balked at more modest gun measures. But she said introducing the measure was a way of
responding to the National Rifle Association and other gun control opponents who point to
their Second Amendment right to bear arms.
"We have rights too," Feinstein said. "We have the right to walk down the street and not get
shot. We have the right to send our children to school and not have them get shot."
"You need to have a license to sell real estate. You need to have a license to cut someone's hair,"
said California Democrat Barbara Boxer, one of Feinstein's co-sponsors.
President Clinton called for licensing gun owners in his State of the Union address this year.
The idea is not seen as politically viable in the short-term but is now part of the policy mix of
ideas being discussed in Washington and in political campaigns, not merely part of the fringe of
extreme gun control proposals.
Feinstein's proposal, to be formally introduced in the Senate this week, would apply to
purchases of handguns and semi-automatic weapons that take detachable ammunition clips.
People who already own those types of weapons would have up to 10 years to get a license.
Most hunting rifles and shotguns would be exempt.
Firearms safety test
To get a license, an applicant would have to go to a licensed firearms dealer, pass a written
firearms safety test, and undergo a background check to make sure there is no disqualifying
criminal record or history of severe mental illness.
Gun sales would also be recorded by serial number. To the NRA and other gun owner groups,
both licensing and sales records are anathema.
Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Martin Meehan said he plans to introduce the bill in the House.
But introducing a bill is no guarantee that there will ever be a vote on it, particularly when the
Republican leadership of the House and Senate oppose most new gun legislation.
After the 15 deaths at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado last year, the Senate
passed a package of gun measures in its juvenile justice bill, but the House defeated them when
it did its version of the youth crime legislation. In theory, the two sides are trying to work out a
compromise but there has been no progress in nearly a year.
Organizers of the Million Mom March say they want Congress to get moving on gun
legislation, including licensing and registration. They project at least 150,000 participants on
Washington's Mall this Sunday, Mother's Day.
Lawmakers unveil gun licensing proposal
By Joanne Kenen
Reuters
May 9, 2000
Web posted at: 5:42 p.m. EDT (2142 GMT)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers who back tougher gun control Tuesday unveiled a bill
that would require gun owners to be licensed and gun sales to be recorded, a dramatic proposal
that even its sponsors acknowledge cannot be enacted this year.
Flanked by women who are organizing this weekend's Million Mom March on Washington for
gun control, lead sponsor California Democrat Dianne Feinstein said that if car drivers are
licensed, gun owners should be.
Feinstein said she knew that this bill could not be enacted by the current Congress, which has
balked at more modest gun measures. But she said introducing the measure was a way of
responding to the National Rifle Association and other gun control opponents who point to
their Second Amendment right to bear arms.
"We have rights too," Feinstein said. "We have the right to walk down the street and not get
shot. We have the right to send our children to school and not have them get shot."
"You need to have a license to sell real estate. You need to have a license to cut someone's hair,"
said California Democrat Barbara Boxer, one of Feinstein's co-sponsors.
President Clinton called for licensing gun owners in his State of the Union address this year.
The idea is not seen as politically viable in the short-term but is now part of the policy mix of
ideas being discussed in Washington and in political campaigns, not merely part of the fringe of
extreme gun control proposals.
Feinstein's proposal, to be formally introduced in the Senate this week, would apply to
purchases of handguns and semi-automatic weapons that take detachable ammunition clips.
People who already own those types of weapons would have up to 10 years to get a license.
Most hunting rifles and shotguns would be exempt.
Firearms safety test
To get a license, an applicant would have to go to a licensed firearms dealer, pass a written
firearms safety test, and undergo a background check to make sure there is no disqualifying
criminal record or history of severe mental illness.
Gun sales would also be recorded by serial number. To the NRA and other gun owner groups,
both licensing and sales records are anathema.
Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Martin Meehan said he plans to introduce the bill in the House.
But introducing a bill is no guarantee that there will ever be a vote on it, particularly when the
Republican leadership of the House and Senate oppose most new gun legislation.
After the 15 deaths at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado last year, the Senate
passed a package of gun measures in its juvenile justice bill, but the House defeated them when
it did its version of the youth crime legislation. In theory, the two sides are trying to work out a
compromise but there has been no progress in nearly a year.
Organizers of the Million Mom March say they want Congress to get moving on gun
legislation, including licensing and registration. They project at least 150,000 participants on
Washington's Mall this Sunday, Mother's Day.
