Bushand Kerry hold fire on gun ban issue
By Alex Halperin in Washington
Published: August 11 2004 05:00 | Last updated: August 11 2004 05:00
On paper, both John Kerry and George W.Bush support the extension of the US assault weapons ban. In practice, neither has done much to make it happen - thanks to the power of gun politics in the US.
The 10-year-old ban expires on September 13, highlighting an issue both men have avoided.
In 1994 Mr Kerry backed the law prohibiting sales of various types of semi-automatic weapons. But, like all Democrats, he and his aides know the price of tangling with the gun lobby. Former president Bill Clinton has said that the assault weapons ban cost 20 Democratic members of Congress their jobs and helped the Republicans sweep Capitol Hill in 1994.
The National Rifle Association, for its part, boasts that it mobilised gun owners in such key states as Arkansas, Tennessee and Missouri, rallying enough votes for Mr Bush to win in 2000.
So Mr Kerry has hardly mentioned extending the ban even though the Democrats' election year platform calls for it. In a symbolic Senate vote to extend the ban this year, Mr Kerry voted in favour, but since then he has courted gun owners by posing for photographs with a shotgun and in hunting gear.
Tom Diaz, a senior policy analyst with the anti-gun Violence Policy Center, suggests the gun control lobby is complicit in the Democrats' soft-pedalling, keeping relatively quiet in the hope of minimising gun-rights fervour directed at Mr Kerry.
Without a concerted effort to revive the ban, it looks bound to lapse soon after Congress returns from summer recess. Party leaders say the Republican-controlled House of Representatives lacks enough support to reauthorise the bill.
Mr Bush's aides say he backs the ban, but the White House has done nothing publicly to push Congress to extend it. Trent Duffy, White House spokesman, says Mr Bush's "position is well known", but declined to comment on whether he will promote it further.
Andrew Arulanandam, NRA director of public affairs, says that while the gun lobby and Mr Bush disagree on the ban, his otherwise "stellar" record would probably not cost Mr Bush gun-owner votes. The NRA is fiercely critical of Mr Kerry and is working for his defeat in battleground states.
In opinion polls, most Americans favour the ban. A recent survey even found large numbers of "NRA supporters" favouring an extension or even a stronger law.
The ban prohibits the manufacture of several guns by name and by particular accessories - but guns made before the ban are unregulated. For example, Bushmaster Firearms of Windham, Maine, still sells "pre-ban" magazines that hold 40 rounds rather than the legal limit of 10.
Manufacturers increased output of banned guns just before the ban took effect. Later, Intratec, a Miami-based manufacturer, introduced its AB-10. "AB" stands for "after ban".
