GOP Gun Bill Under Fire
Tom Mauser brought his daughter to Capitol Hill on Thursday, but it was his son he came to talk about. Daniel Mauser was killed in the Columbine High massacre, CBS News Correspondent Diana Olick reports.
"You want so desperately to warn other people of the pain and that there is a need for change so that we don't have other deaths like this in this country," Mauser said.
Mauser was the ammunition in a day-long Democratic assault on the GOP's proposed gun legislation.
"The Republican gun bill before the House is a sham, it's a fraud," said Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.
"When the NRA speaks, Republican bill writers listen," added House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo.
Democrats say Republicans not only watered down the Senate gun-control bill, passed just three weeks ago, but also much older laws.
- The Republican House version weakens the Senate's mandatory background checks for gun buyers at gun shows.
- The measure allows some gun dealers to ship firearms across state lines.
- And, it grants some legal protection to dealers who sell guns that are used in crimes.
So with debate scheduled to begin next week, lawmakers are left with a bill opposed by Democrats who think it's too little and by conservative Republicans who think it's too much.
As the memories of Columbine begin to fade, so too, it seems, do the chances for the passage of stricter gun laws.