Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 30, 1994 TAG: 9402010264
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long
This would be an extraordinary move for an institution known for its longstanding resistance to gun control - and it would be the second time in less than a year that Congress moved to limit the availability of guns.
Supporters, and even an opponent, say they expect the votes to be there to pass the measure this year. But the National Rifle Association says it's gearing up for a battle.
President Clinton got extended Democratic applause when he called for the ban in his State of the Union message last week, telling a joint session of Congress: "There is no sporting purpose on Earth that should stop the United States Congress from banishing assault weapons that outgun police and cut down children."
The ban was approved by a 56-43 vote as part of a broader Senate bill that was passed late last year. The Senate then passed the Brady handgun-control bill, something it had never done before, ending a seven-year-long brawl.
The assault-weapons measure, introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., would stop the manufacture, sale and new possession of 19 specified semiautomatic assault weapons, and bar production of copycat models.
More than 650 hunting weapons would be exempted by brand name, and people who already own an assault weapon would not be required to give it up.
The House had long favored the Brady bill, but staunchly resisted an assault-style weapons ban.
It rejected a far less restrictive measure by a vote of 247-177 in 1991, even though the vote came a day after a man drove through a cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, and shot 23 people to death before committing suicide. The only vote that switched from "no" to "yes" was that of Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, who represents the district where the eatery was located.
But things are different this year.
With public opinion polls showing crime is America's chief worry, support is building in the halls of Congress for an assault weapons ban, says Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee's crime panel.
"By the end of November, we were about 25 votes short, 20 to 25," Schumer said in an interview. "I think we should have made some progress over the last few months. It's going to be much closer than people imagine."
But will it take a Herculean effort by Clinton to pass it?
"I certainly think not only for assault weapons but on certain of the crime issues, we need the White House to jump into the pool with its sleeves rolled up, not just to stand on high and say, `We agree with this, we don't agree with this,' " said Schumer, who has introduced a measure that parallels Feinstein's amendment.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph Biden said he's certain the House will pass the bill.
"This is bigger than any senator, any group of senators, any congressman," said Biden, D-Del.
Even Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., a House Judiciary Committee member who opposes gun control efforts, acknowledged, "There's such an impetus for this sort of thing that it's likely to be approved."
But James Baker, the NRA's chief lobbyist, predicted that the ban would be defeated.
"To focus on any firearms as a cause for the crime issue is like focusing on automobiles as a cause for drunk driving," Baker said.
Opponents maintain that assault-style weapons are implicated in only a minuscule number of crimes and that banning them won't make any perceptible difference in the violence that Americans fear.
But Jack Killorin of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said assault-style weapons constitute about 1.5 percent of the nation's estimated 211 million guns while accounting for 7 percent of the guns used in crimes that his agency traces.
"That disproportion, backed up by our anecdotal experience with gangs, drug traffickers and other dangerous offenders, indicates a higher interest in these firearms by criminals than by legitimate owners and collectors," Killorin said.
McCollum, an ardent gun rights supporter, said, "The only way you can be effective with this is to ban them all," since a prohibition on new assault-style weapons will not affect the firearms now in circulation.
\ ASSAULT-STYLE WEAPONS\ BANNED BY SENATE\ \ INTRATEC TEC-DC9\ INTRATEC TEC-9\ INTRATEC TEC-22\ AK-47 and versions made by Norinco, Mitchell and Poly Technologies Avtomat\ Kalashnikovs\ Action Arms Israeli Military Industries UZI\ Action Arms Israeli Military Industries Galil\ SWD M-10\ SWD M-11\ SWD M-11/9\ SWD M-12\ Street Sweeper\ Striker 12 or other shotgun that carries ammunition in a revolving cylinder\ Beretta AR-70\ Beretta SC-70\ Colt AR-15\ Fabrique Nationale FN/FAL\ Fabrique Nationale FN/LAR\ Fabrique Nationale FNC\ Steyr Army Universal Rifle
by CNB