Gun Control Not Dead Yet

Despite a major defeat in the House last week, there's still some hope that House and Senate negotiators will include meaningful gun-control measures in a juvenile crime bill, Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle says.

President Clinton continued to press the House to reverse its position and accept tougher controls on sales at gun shows. But Democrats were also looking beyond the vote to how the gun-control issue could play for them in next year's election.

House Democrats last week led the effort to defeat the gun-control portion of a juvenile crime package after Republicans pushed through a provision, written by Democratic Rep. John Dingell of Michigan and backed by the National Rifle Association, that Democrats charged would make gun-show background checks ineffective.

The Senate version includes the background check and other gun-control measures, and could still be included in the final package, although Republicans control both the House and Senate negotiating teams.

"We still have some hope," Daschle, D-S.D., said Sunday on CBS' Face the Nation." "We're going to fight as hard as we possibly can to ensure that they are included in a final bill."

But House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, a fierce opponent of gun control, said the House-passed measure, which responds to the spate of shootings in American schools by imposing tougher penalties for youth crimes and encouraging character-building in schools, was a "wonderful bill."

He said Democrats, in order to score political points, rejected the legislation even though it would have required gun manufacturers to include safety locks, banned some ammunition clips and made it unlawful for children under 18 to possess assault weapons.

DeLay said the 24 hours allowed for background checks in the House bill, instead of the three days in the Senate bill, was sufficient, particularly if the FBI agreed to stay open on weekends, when most gun shows are held.

"I did what I thought was right," said Dingell, the senior House Democrat who has long had close ties to the NRA. "If you really want to deal with the problem of kids I don't think it begins with harassing law-abiding citizens," he said.

Dingell said he thought it was a "distinct possibility" that the final House-Senate bill would have some gun-control language.

The administration argues that while instant checks can be used in most cases, there should be a waiting period when such checks can't be done, as in the case with the Brady law enacted for gun-store handgun purchases in 1993.

Mr. Clinton said the Brady law has blocked 400,000 unqualified buyers from getting guns. "Do I think violent crime would go down any more" by closing the gun show loopholes? "Absolutely I do."

House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri said that the gun issue could work to his party's advantage next year.
He said a small part of the electorate probably were single-interest voters who would oppose gun-control advocates. "The problem is the 80 percent who are for gun safety just aren't for it very much, they are not intense," he said.

Appealing to this majority is crucial, Gephardt said, because gun control "can be run on and it can be won on in any district in this country."

But Dingell said support for the Brady law and other gun-control legislation hurt Democrats in some districts around the country in 1994 and "probably did cost us [control of] the Congress."

As Congress continues to bicker over gun control, gun enthusiasts are stepping up their activity, turning out for gun shows in record numbers and purchasing guns in anticipation of tighter controls. Organizers at a Little Rock, Ark., gun show said the crowd was more than twice what they expected.

More than 600 licensed dealers and unlicensed traders shared the same space all selling their wares for what some buyers consider rock-bottom prices.

Dealers are required to do a background check of all buyers, but unlicensed dealers do not. Also, they cannot sell long guns to those 18 years and younger, sell handguns to people younger than 21, or sell handguns to out-of-state residents. Patrons also cannot be drunk when they purchase a weapon.