Daley urges Bush to push for the ban:

Mayor Daley urged President Bush on Wednesday to put political muscle behind his campaign rhetoric and pressure Congress to extend the federal ban on “murderous” assault weapons before it expires next week.

With gun manufacturers already marketing military-style firearms and poised to sell them at midnight Monday, Daley wrote a letter to Bush and appealed to Chicagoans to do the same with members of Congress who would rather “run and hide” than confront a powerful gun lobby that fills their campaign coffers.

“Legislative leaders refuse to bring the issue to a vote. That way, assault weapons can become legal again, the gun lobby will be happy and nobody in Congress will ever get blamed. . . . The one person who can force this matter to a vote is President Bush,” Daley told a news conference at police headquarters.

They were never illegal.

NPR says it’s about to expire.

Leaders in congress to allow the ban to expire:

Congress will not vote on an assault weapons ban due to expire Monday, Republican leaders said yesterday, rejecting a last-ditch effort by supporters to renew it.

“I think the will of the American people is consistent with letting it expire, so it will expire,” Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) told reporters.

The 10-year ban, signed by President Clinton in 1994, outlawed 19 types of military-style assault weapons. A clause directed that the ban expire unless Congress specifically reauthorized it.

Some Democrats and several police leaders said President Bush should try to persuade Congress to renew the ban. Bush has said he would sign such a bill if Congress passed it.

“If the president asked me, it’d still be no … because we don’t have the votes to pass an assault weapons ban and it will expire Monday and that’s that,” House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) told reporters later.

Thanks to Frist and DeLay.

Jointogether fires up the rhetoric about guns in the streets because, you know, we don’t have any there now:

According to the report, once the ban expires, Beretta plans to offer customers two free 15-round magazines with the purchase of two of its weapons.

In addition, foreign gun manufacturers, including Israel Military Industries Ltd., which makes Uzi-brand submachine guns, are expected to introduce semiautomatic models into the U.S. market.

If the ban is lifted, Illinois-based ArmaLite Inc. will launch a program that would allow buyers to convert their guns to use flash suppressors, bayonets, and other features that are now illegal, the report predicted.

I can’t wait to get some regular capacity magazines for my Sig for less than $100. And the Uzi has been banned from import since 1989.

DiFi attempts to call out the president on the issue stating he’s kowtowing to the NRA. Meanwhile LaPierre says that proponents of the ban mis-characterize the ban as affecting machine guns:

The NRA and other gun-rights groups criticize the assault weapons ban as cosmetic, noting that guns similar to the banned weapons are legal, and fully automatic weapons are banned under a separate law.

“The House is much more educated, members are, about what’s in that ban than they were last time,” LaPierre said. “This thing was marketed by the people who were in favor of it as dealing with machines guns, dealing with guns that were supposedly convertible to machine guns, guns that spray bullets … all of which was a mischaracterization of the firearms on that list and all of which was not true.”

Hysteria from Newsday accuses Bush of flip-flopping (are you sick of political buzzwords yet?). And the reference to machine gun rat-tat-tat-tat rather proves LaPierre’s point.

Walking the Walls reports that nothing happened in moving the ban forward.

Publicola addresses some more media hysteria. So does Jeff.

The Houston Chronicle says the ban is done for. Good.

DeLay:

“If the president asked me, it’d still be no … because we don’t have the votes to pass an assault weapons ban and it will expire Monday and that’s that,” House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, told reporters later.

And the hysterical crap of the day. Note the image with the caption:

If the federal ban on assault weapons is allowed to expire next week, expect gun manufacturers to roll out high-powered firearms such as this AR-15 rifle, observers say.

That rifle lacks a bayonet lug, folding stock and bayonet lug. That weapon is legal to manufacture and sell under the current ban.

Posted in uncategorized on September 9th, 2004 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |