FYI....
WASHINGTON (AP) — Trying to end a
week-long battle over gun control,
Senate Republicans are offering
concessions that would place further
restrictions on firearms sales — while
vowing to give no more ground.
Democrats declared a victory over the
gun lobby.
``The gun lobby was wounded this
week,'' Senate Democratic leader Tom
Daschle told reporters Wednesday. He
said last month's high school
shootings in Littleton, Colo., had
produced ``a dramatic and pivotal
moment'' in the gun control debate.
Given the GOP's concessions and reversals on guns in the
past week, he said, ``There may not be much difference
between Democrats and Republicans anymore.''
Republicans fiercely disagreed, saying their reversal on
requiring background checks at gun shows and voting to
require trigger locks with handgun sales weren't big
concessions at all.
Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, the National Rifle
Association board member who had appeared
to be driving the debate away from gun
control last week until a half-dozen of his
GOP colleagues objected, insisted
Wednesday that pro-gun interests had not
been defeated.
``I haven't lost,'' he said with a smile,
wagging his forefinger in the air. ``It's not
over yet.''
Indeed, Republicans pushed the most
controversial gun-related measures to the
end of the debate, in its ninth day today. A
draft amendment circulated by the GOP calls for
background checks on all purchasers at gun shows,
including transactions exempted in the proposal that
Republicans muscled through the Senate last week. In
addition, the proposal would require a mandatory
background check for anyone seeking to reclaim their own
weapon at a pawnshop.
The amendment negates a measure by Craig that passed
last week by one vote, but which then drew objections
from rank-and-file GOP senators.
The Senate was expected to take up the
amendment today.
Despite the concessions, administration
officials prepared a long list of additional
issues that the Republicans didn't address,
saying the GOP hadn't gone far enough to
stop some criminals from obtaining
weapons.
``They don't get it,'' Sen. Frank Lautenberg,
D-N.J., said of Republicans. ``The public
gets it.''
While making the latest in a series of
retreats, Republicans indicated they were
drawing the line. GOP aides said the latest amendment
had been drafted in a meeting with top Senate
Republicans on Wednesday.
The GOP aides, who spoke on
condition of anonymity, said
party leaders hoped that
passage of their proposal
would persuade enough
wavering Republicans to help
kill a stronger set of
provisions advanced by
Democrats.
The latest Democratic
admendment would remove
some of the government
record keeping and other red tape proposed in connection
with gun show purchases. But it also would give the
government three days to conduct a background check —
rather than 24 hours proposed by Republicans.
Democrats also want to wait 90 days before expunging
background check records in cases where the purchases
are approved. The GOP wants immediate destruction of
all records.
The gun amendments were intended to toughen a
sweeping, $5 billion juvenile crime bill by Sen. Orrin
Hatch, R-Utah, that would make it harder for kids to get
guns and inflict more painful punishments on those who
use them.
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., brought the
gun control issue to the floor last week to allow
lawmakers to stage a debate responding to the April 20
massacre in Colorado that left 14 students and a teacher
dead.
Lott earlier had threatened to pull the bill if senators
didn't pare down the list of amendments enough to hold a
final vote by Tuesday night. But relishing the public
relations nightmare that the bill had imposed on
Republicans, Democrats called Lott's bluff and were slow
to cut their amendment list. Lott backed down, and by
this morning, it was still unclear when the Senate would
hold its final vote.
The ceaseless political combat in the aftermath of
Littleton has taken its toll on the patience of GOP
leaders.
``(Democrats are) going to find out that nothing's
changed'' with regard to the gun lobby's influence, Lott
fumed outside the Senate chamber. ``They will find out
that they have hurt their relationship with me because I
have acted in good faith and they have not.
``They're gonna pay,'' he added.
Asked about the Senate's rebuke of several NRA demands
during debate, Lott replied: ``The NRA has not lost its
influence.''
[This message has been edited by Bulldog (edited May 20, 1999).]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Trying to end a
week-long battle over gun control,
Senate Republicans are offering
concessions that would place further
restrictions on firearms sales — while
vowing to give no more ground.
Democrats declared a victory over the
gun lobby.
``The gun lobby was wounded this
week,'' Senate Democratic leader Tom
Daschle told reporters Wednesday. He
said last month's high school
shootings in Littleton, Colo., had
produced ``a dramatic and pivotal
moment'' in the gun control debate.
Given the GOP's concessions and reversals on guns in the
past week, he said, ``There may not be much difference
between Democrats and Republicans anymore.''
Republicans fiercely disagreed, saying their reversal on
requiring background checks at gun shows and voting to
require trigger locks with handgun sales weren't big
concessions at all.
Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, the National Rifle
Association board member who had appeared
to be driving the debate away from gun
control last week until a half-dozen of his
GOP colleagues objected, insisted
Wednesday that pro-gun interests had not
been defeated.
``I haven't lost,'' he said with a smile,
wagging his forefinger in the air. ``It's not
over yet.''
Indeed, Republicans pushed the most
controversial gun-related measures to the
end of the debate, in its ninth day today. A
draft amendment circulated by the GOP calls for
background checks on all purchasers at gun shows,
including transactions exempted in the proposal that
Republicans muscled through the Senate last week. In
addition, the proposal would require a mandatory
background check for anyone seeking to reclaim their own
weapon at a pawnshop.
The amendment negates a measure by Craig that passed
last week by one vote, but which then drew objections
from rank-and-file GOP senators.
The Senate was expected to take up the
amendment today.
Despite the concessions, administration
officials prepared a long list of additional
issues that the Republicans didn't address,
saying the GOP hadn't gone far enough to
stop some criminals from obtaining
weapons.
``They don't get it,'' Sen. Frank Lautenberg,
D-N.J., said of Republicans. ``The public
gets it.''
While making the latest in a series of
retreats, Republicans indicated they were
drawing the line. GOP aides said the latest amendment
had been drafted in a meeting with top Senate
Republicans on Wednesday.
The GOP aides, who spoke on
condition of anonymity, said
party leaders hoped that
passage of their proposal
would persuade enough
wavering Republicans to help
kill a stronger set of
provisions advanced by
Democrats.
The latest Democratic
admendment would remove
some of the government
record keeping and other red tape proposed in connection
with gun show purchases. But it also would give the
government three days to conduct a background check —
rather than 24 hours proposed by Republicans.
Democrats also want to wait 90 days before expunging
background check records in cases where the purchases
are approved. The GOP wants immediate destruction of
all records.
The gun amendments were intended to toughen a
sweeping, $5 billion juvenile crime bill by Sen. Orrin
Hatch, R-Utah, that would make it harder for kids to get
guns and inflict more painful punishments on those who
use them.
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., brought the
gun control issue to the floor last week to allow
lawmakers to stage a debate responding to the April 20
massacre in Colorado that left 14 students and a teacher
dead.
Lott earlier had threatened to pull the bill if senators
didn't pare down the list of amendments enough to hold a
final vote by Tuesday night. But relishing the public
relations nightmare that the bill had imposed on
Republicans, Democrats called Lott's bluff and were slow
to cut their amendment list. Lott backed down, and by
this morning, it was still unclear when the Senate would
hold its final vote.
The ceaseless political combat in the aftermath of
Littleton has taken its toll on the patience of GOP
leaders.
``(Democrats are) going to find out that nothing's
changed'' with regard to the gun lobby's influence, Lott
fumed outside the Senate chamber. ``They will find out
that they have hurt their relationship with me because I
have acted in good faith and they have not.
``They're gonna pay,'' he added.
Asked about the Senate's rebuke of several NRA demands
during debate, Lott replied: ``The NRA has not lost its
influence.''
[This message has been edited by Bulldog (edited May 20, 1999).]