The last nail in gun control By Bob Cusack and Elizabeth Fulk
The expected election of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean as chairman of the Democratic National Committee this month will strike a crippling blow to the gun-control movement, lobbyists and political observers say.
Like Dean, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is a strong supporter of gun rights. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) supports gun control but rarely mentioned the issue before the 2004 election.
National Rifle Association (NRA) Executive Director Chris Cox said Dean, whom the NRA endorsed when he was running for governor, was taking over a party that had suffered electorally for its embrace of gun control.
Over the past decade, the issue had become strongly partisan, but gun-rights groups say the political winds have shifted.
Most Democrats supported the renewal of the assault-weapons ban in 2004, but few campaigned on it. To the delight of gun-rights groups, the ban expired in September. Reid, along with five other Senate Democrats, voted against renewing the 10-year ban last March.
Reid has maintained close ties to both local and federal gun-rights groups, particularly the NRA.
On Sept. 22, 2004, Cox wrote Reid a thank-you note stating, On behalf of the nearly 4 million NRA members nationwide, I wanted to thank you personally for your efforts in defending the Second Amendment during your tenure in Congress.
Cox pointed out that while Pelosi was no friend of the NRA, close to 50 Democrats in the House support the organization.
We continue to watch both sides of the aisle carefully, Cox said.
Several House Democrats and some Northeastern Republicans strongly urged the president to renew the weapons ban last year. However, they did not attempt to force it to the House floor through a discharge petition.
Much of the attention on the race for DNC chairman has been on abortion. Former Rep. Tim Roemers (D-Ind.) bid to run the DNC has been hampered by the fact that he, like Reid, opposes abortion rights. Deans huge lead in the DNC race suggests that abortion rights is far more important to the Democratic base than gun control.
Robert Spitzer, political science professor at State University of New York-Cortland said, The gun issue has historically been a cyclical issue, and were in a cycle right now where there is less interest in gun control for a variety of reasons. The Democrats feel they were burned in 2000 on the gun issue. And enough Democrats believe it to be so that the Democratic Party doesnt have the same zeal for the issue that it did earlier.
Spitzer added that gun control would eventually get more attention again, saying, I dont mean a few months; I mean a few years. But the issue will return.
Last year, Sen. John Kerrys campaign arranged several photo opportunities of the presidential candidate hunting. Democrats said the Kerry campaign believed Al Gore made a huge tactical error by repeatedly talking about gun control during the 2000 campaign for the White House.
In his book released last year, former President Clinton wrote that the passage of the gun ban was a major contributing factor in the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994.
Even so, gun-control advocates say they are not worried about Dean running the DNC. Peter Hamm, communications director for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said, If Governor Dean is elected as chair, we are certain he will be someone who represents all facets of the party. We dont think it would send a serious message that the party was moving in the wrong direction.
Hamm noted that Dean supported renewing the assault-weapons ban in his 2004 presidential campaign.
In November 2003, the Brady Campaign lambasted Dean for saying the issue of guns crossing state borders had been resolved. The group said the remark was totally untrue and unsupportable.
The group last year said it did not support Dean because he has chosen to run to the right of the Democratic Party on gun issues.
Gun-control advocates were heartened last year when Deans bid for president crumbled.
Dean spokeswoman Laura Gross said that if the former governor becomes DNC chairman he will not be deciding policy and will instead be focused on getting Democrats elected.
Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, said Democrats would have chances this year to alter their image on gun owners by voting for gun-rights legislation.
The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (H.R. 1036) and the District of Columbia Personal Protection Act (H.R. 3193) will be reintroduced this year, along with their respective versions in the Senate.
H.R. 1036 would prevent firearms manufacturers from being held responsible for the criminal misuse of their products. H.R. 3193 would repeal the D.C. gun ban.
Harry Reid needs to make sure his boys in the Senate dont throw up a filibuster to block these [bills] from going through, Pratt said.
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