Nope, I don’t think so.
Found
this just now, but it’s a far cry from nullifying the agreement.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
Gunmaker gets no preference
Senate fires back at S & W
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A Senate panel yesterday dealt a blow to Smith & Wesson, the giant gunmaker that promised last March to adopt gun-safety measures.
A subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to prohibit the government from giving a preference to Smith & Wesson when purchasing arms for federal law enforcement officers.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., sought to strike the language from a spending bill, but the effort was rejected by voice vote.
Under a pact reached with the Clinton administration last March, Smith & Wesson agreed to begin including childproof locks on its guns, require its dealers to conduct background checks on purchasers and take other safety steps. In exchange, the federal government - and a group of states and communities - agreed to drop lawsuits against the company and refrain from filing new ones.
In addition, 515 communities have agreed to give Smith & Wesson a preference when buying arms for law enforcement personnel - a provision that seven other gunmakers have challenged in court.
The federal government has not yet agreed to give such a preference, though officials have discussed it, said Sandi Abadinsky, spokeswoman for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the lead agency on the issue.
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said the preference language "would be anti-competitive" and "could affect law-enforcement safety" by encouraging communities to buy weapons that don't meet their needs.
But Dorgan said communities were not required to give preferences and said of restrictive language in the bill, "I think it sends the wrong message to Smith & Wesson . . . and the public."
The provision was included in a $29 billion measure financing the Treasury Department and several smaller agencies next year. Identical language was included in the version of that bill the House Appropriations Committee approved on Tuesday.
The Senate bill also:
Cuts more than $400 million from President Clinton's $9 billion request for the Internal Revenue Service. The White House has threatened to veto the House version of the bill partly because of that reduction.
Opens the door for a 2.7 percent pay raise in January for members of Congress, which would add $3,800 to their current $141,300-a-year salaries. The House bill would do the same.[/quote]
This is just a subcommittee of a committee and is certainly not carved in stone, not yet anyway. One can always hope, though.
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RKBA!
"The people have the right to bear arms for their defense and security"
Ohio Constitution, Article I, Section 4
Concealed Carry is illegal in Ohio.
Except for Hamilton County until August 11th.
Ohioans for Concealed Carry Website
[This message has been edited by TheBluesMan (edited July 21, 2000).]
