Assault weapon issue moves to fore

WASHINGTON -- As a presidential candidate in 1999, George W. Bush was outraged when a man used an assault weapon to wound three people at a California community center. "It makes no sense for assault weapons to be around our society," Bush said at the time, vowing to uphold a national ban on such weapons, which had been instituted five years earlier.

But now Bush's words are being put to a test in a way that could become a major campaign issue this fall.

The 10-year ban on assault weapons will expire at midnight on Sept. 13, unless the Republican-controlled Congress extends it and Bush signs the legislation. While a White House official said Bush's position in favor of extending the ban has not changed, Bush earlier this year helped engineer the defeat of a gun bill that included an extension of the ban. Without a vigorous effort by the president or Republican leaders, the ban is expected to lapse -- and that could make the issue of assault weapons a major point of contention.

On Wednesday, the Massachusetts House passed its own ban on assault weapons, not wanting to wait for federal action. Polls have found that the vast majority of Americans favor extending the prohibition on the weapons. Bush and the presumptive Democratic nominee, John F. Kerry, are on record for extending the ban, but Kerry has been much more outspoken about it, boasting that he has taken on the National Rifle Association.

"John Kerry has the courage to stand up to the NRA, one of the most powerful special interests in the country, which is fighting tooth and nail against reasonable gun safety protections and against renewal of the assault weapon ban," Kerry's campaign website asserts.

While that has won Kerry plaudits from some law-enforcement and gun-control groups, it has raised the ire of the NRA and has caused concern among some Kerry backers in swing states such as West Virginia, where the gun issue is crucial.

"The gun issue, I think, is what cost Al Gore the election in 2000, and [Kerry] should pay very much attention to be on the conservative side of that, because otherwise it may cost him the presidency, at least in this state," said John Taylor, chairman of the Democratic Party in West Virginia's Taylor County.

However, Amy Shuler Goodwin, a spokesman for Kerry's West Virginia campaign, said the issue shouldn't hurt him because "hunters who respect hunting don't go out with assault weapons as part of their gear."

The 1994 legislation banned 19 semiautomatic assault weapons. To win support for the bill, the authors specifically named more than 700 guns that had not been affected by the ban.

Representative Carolyn McCarthy of New York, whose husband was one of six people killed in December 1993 by a gunman in a Long Island Rail Road train massacre, has voiced deep frustration at the possibility that the ban will expire. She says that the legislation is much too weak, and has reported that many "copycat" guns have slipped through because of loopholes in the bill or weak enforcement of the law. And she wants more guns banned. But at the very least, she says, the existing ban should be extended.

"I am realistic," McCarthy said. "If I can't get a straight reauthorization, how in heaven's name can I get something stronger?" McCarthy said that responsibility for passage of the bill rests with Bush. Noting that he has promised to sign the legislation if it comes to his desk, she said: "Every bill he wants has gotten to this desk. It is going to be up to him to put pressure on the House and the Senate."

The gun lobby, while unhappy that Bush has endorsed an extension of the ban, has made clear that it believes Kerry would be much tougher on gun owners than Bush, although it has not yet endorsed a presidential candidate.

The NRA's chief executive officer, Wayne R. LaPierre, referring to Kerry's effort to portray himself as a hunter, said in an interview that gun owners would "see through" Kerry as "a rich guy with a shotgun." He said that if Kerry became president, the assault weapons ban wouldn't just be extended, it would be expanded. Referring to Kerry's boast that he has stood up to the NRA, LaPierre said: "That translates into, 'John Kerry will vote against gun owners.' "

LaPierre said that the gun ban extension probably has little hope of passage in Congress because Democrats realize that it has hurt the party politically.

The lobbies for and against the bill have far different assessments of its effectiveness. The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which wants the ban renewed, has issued a report saying that crimes involving the banned guns dropped 66 percent after the ban was enacted. The NRA has issued its own report, saying that assault weapons are used in 1 to 2 percent of violent crimes, and say the ban has had little impact.

The NRA has gone to great lengths to ensure that the ban expires. For example, on March 2 the NRA thought it was close to winning congressional approval for legislation that would have exempted gun makers from liability if their products were used in a shooting -- a measure strongly desired by gun makers. But that Senate bill was amended to include a renewal of the assault weapons ban, with Kerry breaking away from the campaign trail to cast a vote in favor of the ban.

"There is a gap between America's 'Field and Stream' gun owners and the NRA's 'Soldier of Fortune' leaders," Kerry said in a statement supporting the ban.

The White House then went into action, announcing that it didn't want the gun liability measure passed if it was "undermined" by the inclusion of the gun ban renewal. The overall bill was then defeated.

"The Bush administration has said one thing and it is doing the exact opposite," said Michael Barnes, president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. "The president indicated this is something he supports, but he is clearly allowing it to go away. And it is tragic. Lives will be lost."

A White House spokeswoman, Claire Buchan, asked what Bush has done to promote the renewal of the ban, responded that the president's position "has not changed" and that he would sign the legislation if it came to his desk.