Clinton Gets Tough On Guns

Exactly one week after the Littleton, Colo. shooting massacre, President Clinton Tuesday unveiled his proposal for new anti-gun legislation aimed partly at keeping guns out of the hands of teens.

Mr. Clinton said fewer children would die in school shootings and other gun-related incidents if stronger gun-control laws were on the books. As he proposed the most far-reaching gun-control laws since the 1960s, the president said opposition to gun control is crazy, reports CBS News Senior White House Correspondent Scott Pelley.

"This is about our responsibility to our children," Mr. Clinton said. "This is about protecting our children and the vulnerable children themselves from people who are about to go over the line here. And this is crazy that we are living in a society that takes no reasonable steps to protect the larger community."

Under the new legislation, buyers of explosives would be subject to the same Brady law background checks as gun purchasers and negligent parents would also be held liable when their children commit crimes with guns.

In the proposal, "explosives" refers to dynamite, blasting caps and the like, not materials that can be blended into a volatile mixture.

In Littleton, the student killers used homemade hand grenades and pipe bombs in their rampage through Columbine High School. In Oklahoma City, two tons of explosive made from commonplace fertilizer were used to blow up the federal building in 1995.

The adult could be held liable whenever a juvenile crime is committed and the adult "knowingly or recklessly allowed it to occur," said White House spokesman Barry Toiv. He added that the legislation's standard of reckless conduct would be "a difficult standard to meet."

CBS News White House Correspondent Bill Plante reports that the White House makes no secret of the fact that it is counting on the outrage from what happened in Colorado to overcome the objections of the National Rifle Association.

Mr. Clinton was accompanied by Hillary Rodham Clinton and a large group of cabinet officials and lawmakers.

The first lady said Tuesday we may never be able to prevent acts of violence like the one that took place last week in Colorado. But she said kids need more contact with responsible adults, and more protection from a Â"culture of violence.Â"

Â"Parents need help,Â" the first lady said. Â"They need help from the larger community and that means all of us.Â"

The proposal includes:

• Mandatory child-safety locks on all guns sold.
• Extension of an existing ban on juvenile possession of handguns to include semiautomatic assault rifles; also, a ban on importation of all ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, an extension of current law banning imports of those made since 1994.
• Background checks on buyers for all gun-show sales.
• A lifetime ban on gun ownership for people who commit violent crimes as uveniles.
• A three-day waiting period for all handgun purchases, with an additional two days if law officers need them to complete their investigation.
• Mandatory prison sentences of three to 10 years and $10,000 fines for adults, including parents, who allow children access to guns.