Slowpoke_Rodrigo
New member
April 7 Neal Knox Report -- Yesterday was a lively day for gun
issues on Capitol Hill.
The House Education and Workforce Committee decided not to
vote on Rep. Carolyn McCarthy's Democrat-backed plan to include the
gun provisions of the Senate's Juvenile Justice bill among the
school-safety programs funded by the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act.
Education Committee Chairman Bill Goodling (R-Pa.)
ruled "Gun control is a matter for the Judiciary
Committee. This bill is about education."
Democrats appealed his ruling, and lost 28-17 -- a much better
spread than I had feared earlier this week. The Education
Committee includes anti-gun Republicans like Rep. Mike Castle (R-
Del.), who had voted for the Senate gun provisions last May, but
who voted to uphold the chairman.
Rep. McCarthy, who is a committee member, also tried to
require schools to use some of their safety funds to promote
trigger locks.
-------------
There was a full-bore gun law hearing yesterday in Chairman
Bill McCollum's (R-Fla.) Judiciary Crime Subcommittee concerning
his H.R. 4051, providing $100 million in grants over five years to
states with Project Exile-like mandatory sentences for gun crimes.
Despite the bill being described as calling for mandatory
sentences for possession by felons, the language specifies
convicted "violent felons" -- which is not as open for abuse. Six
states presently have laws that would qualify for the grants.
No pro-gun groups testified -- nor did HCI -- but the anti-gun
crowd was there in force, calling for President Clinton's "ENFORCE"
bill, H.R. 4066, to fund 600 new BATF agents and 1,000 U.S.
Attorneys to prosecute gun offenses, plus changes in the gun laws.
U.S. Attorney Walter Holton of North Carolina, testifying for the Justice
Department, disputed the contention that gun law enforcement had
declined under the Clinton Administration.
Former Bush Administration U.S. Attorney George Terwilliger
III, who had pushed the "Triggerlock" increased Federal gun law
enforcement program in 1991, said the Clinton Justice Department
had sharply reduced prosecutions of violent gun-toting criminals
except in Virginia's Project Exile and a few other areas. While
supporting McCollum's H.R. 4051, he also took a swing at the failed D.C. gun
registration law and the cities suing gun manufacturers.
Others who testified included Kristen Rand of the Violence
Policy Center; Dr. Garen Wintemute of the University of California,
Davis, Violence Prevention Research Program; and Mary Leigh Blek,
President of the Bell Campaign.
----------
Also yesterday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde,
R-Ill., said he thought the Juvenile Justice bill and its gun
issues would likely be resolved by the end of the congressional
session this fall.
------------
Last night CBS Anchor Dan Rather devoted most of his program
to segments of a wide-ranging interview with President Clinton. El
Presidente pouted that his demand to pass the Senate's gun bill
before the April 20 anniversary of Columbine wouldn't be met.
"We have a majority for it in both houses, I think. But the
Republican leadership in the Senate may be able to keep it from
coming to a vote," he said.
That was a little strange, for it was the House which rejected
the Senate language, and Clinton and Gephardt who killed the NRA-
backed House "compromise," H.R. 2122, which gave Clinton 90
percent of what he wanted.
------------------
Slowpoke Rodrigo...he pack a gon...
Vote for the Neal Knox 13
issues on Capitol Hill.
The House Education and Workforce Committee decided not to
vote on Rep. Carolyn McCarthy's Democrat-backed plan to include the
gun provisions of the Senate's Juvenile Justice bill among the
school-safety programs funded by the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act.
Education Committee Chairman Bill Goodling (R-Pa.)
ruled "Gun control is a matter for the Judiciary
Committee. This bill is about education."
Democrats appealed his ruling, and lost 28-17 -- a much better
spread than I had feared earlier this week. The Education
Committee includes anti-gun Republicans like Rep. Mike Castle (R-
Del.), who had voted for the Senate gun provisions last May, but
who voted to uphold the chairman.
Rep. McCarthy, who is a committee member, also tried to
require schools to use some of their safety funds to promote
trigger locks.
-------------
There was a full-bore gun law hearing yesterday in Chairman
Bill McCollum's (R-Fla.) Judiciary Crime Subcommittee concerning
his H.R. 4051, providing $100 million in grants over five years to
states with Project Exile-like mandatory sentences for gun crimes.
Despite the bill being described as calling for mandatory
sentences for possession by felons, the language specifies
convicted "violent felons" -- which is not as open for abuse. Six
states presently have laws that would qualify for the grants.
No pro-gun groups testified -- nor did HCI -- but the anti-gun
crowd was there in force, calling for President Clinton's "ENFORCE"
bill, H.R. 4066, to fund 600 new BATF agents and 1,000 U.S.
Attorneys to prosecute gun offenses, plus changes in the gun laws.
U.S. Attorney Walter Holton of North Carolina, testifying for the Justice
Department, disputed the contention that gun law enforcement had
declined under the Clinton Administration.
Former Bush Administration U.S. Attorney George Terwilliger
III, who had pushed the "Triggerlock" increased Federal gun law
enforcement program in 1991, said the Clinton Justice Department
had sharply reduced prosecutions of violent gun-toting criminals
except in Virginia's Project Exile and a few other areas. While
supporting McCollum's H.R. 4051, he also took a swing at the failed D.C. gun
registration law and the cities suing gun manufacturers.
Others who testified included Kristen Rand of the Violence
Policy Center; Dr. Garen Wintemute of the University of California,
Davis, Violence Prevention Research Program; and Mary Leigh Blek,
President of the Bell Campaign.
----------
Also yesterday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde,
R-Ill., said he thought the Juvenile Justice bill and its gun
issues would likely be resolved by the end of the congressional
session this fall.
------------
Last night CBS Anchor Dan Rather devoted most of his program
to segments of a wide-ranging interview with President Clinton. El
Presidente pouted that his demand to pass the Senate's gun bill
before the April 20 anniversary of Columbine wouldn't be met.
"We have a majority for it in both houses, I think. But the
Republican leadership in the Senate may be able to keep it from
coming to a vote," he said.
That was a little strange, for it was the House which rejected
the Senate language, and Clinton and Gephardt who killed the NRA-
backed House "compromise," H.R. 2122, which gave Clinton 90
percent of what he wanted.
------------------
Slowpoke Rodrigo...he pack a gon...
Vote for the Neal Knox 13