First, my opinion. The ban will sunset. Anti-gunners will vote for Kerry, period. Bush can only lose votes from gun owners and NRA members by pushing for the ban. He knows it and his advisers know it. Additionally, if the ban sunsets, I predict an NRA endorsement for Bush. However, after November, a push for it wouldn’t surprise me. Even the bill’s sponsors say it has no chance without Bush:

The fight to renew a favored ban on assault weapons effectively died Tuesday after the lead Senate sponsor of a bill to continue restrictions on the sale and manufacture of some semi-automatic weapons conceded defeat.

“Absent the president twisting arms, it’s nil,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., of the chances to get a bill passed before midnight Monday, when the law expires.

However, they continue their efforts.

Gun makers gear up for demand:

Gun manufacturers are gearing up for next week’s scheduled expiration of a 10-year-old federal ban on assault weapons, and are taking orders for semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity ammunition magazines that may soon become legal again, according to a report released yesterday.

The report by the Consumer Federation of America, which favors greater regulation of the gun industry, was based on interviews with gun-industry officials and reviews of advertisements and other sales materials.

Excellent!

Here’s one that says the assault weapons ban works but the holes need to be plugged (ed – if it works, there shouldn’t be a need to plug holes):

By any measure, the 1994 federal ban on assault weapons errs on the side of permissiveness. A gun can’t have both a grenade launcher and a bayonet mount, but it can have one of those attachments. It can’t be sold with an ammo clip holding more than 10 rounds unless the clip is one of hundreds of thousands made before the law took effect. It can’t be one of 19 specified weapons — unless it, too, was around before 1994.

Now, as the law marks its 10th anniversary, President Bush and Congress have a novel idea for dealing with these gaping loopholes: Let the law expire entirely. That will happen Monday if they don’t reverse current plans.

In spite of a drop in gun deaths since the ban was enacted and despite new fears of terrorism, Bush and Republican leaders in Congress seem more concerned about courting favor with the powerful gun lobby than allowing weapons of mass mayhem back on the nation’s streets.

The drop in gun deaths can not be credited to the ban, ask the CDC and the NIJ, who both stated the ban has been shown to have no effect on gun crime.

The pending sunset of the ban has caused politicos in Michigan to consider a local ban.

The Suntimes is full of hysteria.

The boys continue live blogging coverage of the Senate floor. Keep checking here for updates.

Posted in uncategorized on September 8th, 2004 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |