THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 29, 1996 TAG: 9607280001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 34 lines
The National Rifle Association says the gun lobby is ``disappointed and disillusioned'' that Bob Dole, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, seems to be soft on semiautomatic military-style assault rifles with large-capacity ammunition magazines.
Poll after poll shows that Americans overwhelmingly support federal and state bans on the manufacture, assembly and sale of such firearms.
As the NRA sees it, ``the right to bear arms'' precludes even the slightest government regulation of firearms commerce. The gun lobby presumably would welcome an interpretation of the Second Amendment that frees patriots to keep bazooka's around the house because the feds moved against the Branch Davidians with a tank.
Tanya Metaksa, the NRA's chief lobbyist, says the NRA board may not endorse Dole for president although the gun lobby has vowed to do all it legally can do to prevent Bill Clinton's re-election. Instead, the NRA may concentrate on electing its allies to Congress; many new members of the Republican 104th Congress owe their jobs in part to NRA aid in the November 1994 congressional elections.
NRA displeasure with Dole is understandable. Dole promised as Senate majority leader to place the question of repealing the federal ban on military-style assault firearms to a vote in the GOP-controlled upper chamber but left the place without having done so. Earlier, the GOP-controlled House voted to repeal the ban. Now Dole knocks military-style assault firearms. From the gun lobby's perspective, he is - at least for now - just another politician whose word is unreliable. by CNB