Edward Epstein, San Francisco Chronicle (Washington Bureau) Wednesday, 3 March, 2004
Senate Republicans shot down their own bill protecting the gun industry from lawsuits on Tuesday, saying it had been compromised by amendments, including the slim passage of Sen. Dianne Feinstein's measure to renew the 10-year-old assault weapons ban.
The day's developments in the legislative fight over the role of guns in American society left the fate of the attached measures in doubt. That could be especially ominous for the weapons ban, which is due to expire Sept. 13, unless Congress passes a renewal and President Bush signs it.
The legislative wrangling made clear that gun control, which has hardly been mentioned in the presidential primaries, will become an issue in this year's contest. That was brought into focus Tuesday when Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards interrupted their Democratic primary campaigns to return to the Capitol and help pass the gun-control amendments.
Republicans had expected to win approval of the liability measure, which would bar lawsuits such as those San Francisco and other California cities have filed against gunmakers.
Bush had urged lawmakers to avoid amending the measure, saying he would veto the bill unless it emerged as a single-issue piece of legislation.
But Bush, as a candidate in 2000 and through a spokesman recently, had pledged to sign a renewal to the assault-weapons ban if it reached his desk. When Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., pushed their plan to attach the assault-weapons renewal as an amendment to the liability bill, it put pressure on the White House to remain true to the president's pledge.
The Senate first voted 52-47 for the renewal of the ban Feinstein had won as an upstart freshman senator in 1993, earning her the enmity of the National Rifle Association and other Second Amendment groups. The Senate gave gun- control forces another temporary victory a few minutes later by voting 53-46 to close the so-called gun-show loophole that allows collectors to sell weapons at gun shows without performing the background checks required of licensed dealers.
When it was time for a vote on the overall liability bill, the bill's chief sponsor, Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, urged his colleagues to kill the legislation because of the poison-pill amendments. "It is so dramatically wounded that it should not pass,'' said Craig, a National Rifle Association board member.
Not long before, the gun group had sent its Senate allies an e-mail urging them to defeat the bill, which had 55 co-sponsors. The group warned it would remember those who defied it and voted for the bill. The measure died 90- 8.
After the bill was killed, at least for now, Feinstein vowed to press on in her efforts to renew the ban on 19 types of semi-automatic weapons and ammunition clips of more than 10 rounds.
"I am a bit numb," a stunned Feinstein said after the votes. "What they are doing is forcing this to be part of the presidential debate and then you have to ask the question, why didn't the president live up to his commitment?
"We are going to persevere,'' she vowed. "People don't know me very well if they think I am going to drop out along the way."
Even if the Senate had enacted the bill with the gun-control amendments, it faced a tortuous route to final passage. The House had easily passed the bill to give the gun industry unprecedented protection against negligence lawsuits last year, and House Republican majority leaders, all of them firm NRA allies, had vowed the assault-weapons ban would never come up for a vote.
Feinstein said she had Senate leaders' agreement that her amendment would not be sacrificed by a Republican-led House-Senate conference committee. That would have either killed the entire bill, or sent Bush a bill including her legislation.
On Tuesday, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said pro-gun- control senators were making mischief with the liability bill. "There are some in the Senate who are seeking to undermine that legislation with certain amendments. That's not the issue here. The issue here is about passing a meaningful piece of lawsuit reform,'' he said.
A spokesman for the NRA said it was better to scuttle the liability bill than to allow the gun-control measures to advance.
"While we will continue to work to save the U.S. firearms industry, we have said from the start that we would not allow this bill to become a vehicle for added restrictions on the law-abiding people of America," NRA Vice President Wayne LaPierre Jr. said.
Other gun lobby returned to the Senate floor Tuesday morning and embraced Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., one of the sponsors of the gun-show loophole amendment.
Kerry then addressed the Senate, speaking for Feinstein's amendment.
"The opposition to this commonsense gun safety law is being driven by the NRA,'' said Kerry, a longtime hunter who has downplayed gun control during his campaign for the nomination. "I don't believe this is the voice of responsible gun ownership.''
He also accused Bush of backtracking on his pledge to sign Feinstein's bill. "Now under pressure he's walking away from that commitment, as he has from so many others,'' said Kerry.
Kerry's public endorsement of the assault-weapons ban won't hurt him much, said Robert J. Spitzer, a professor at the State University of New York at Cortland who has written widely on the gun issue and Congress.
"Kerry is identified with these measures anyway so the assault-weapons ban doesn't hurt him in November," Spitzer said. "There is little he could say or do to alter the views of the NRA toward him.''
Before the bill was scuttled, Feinstein and her supporters, who included 10 GOP senators, had a few hours to savor victory.
"This is a tremendous day," Feinstein said after the initial vote, which
was in doubt until the last few minutes. "It was an uphill battle, but it was
a battle worth fighting. The NRA went all out to repeal this legislation, and
we won. ... Once in a while, when you have something in which you deeply
believe, and that something is made into law and sustained, it is so elating
and so important.''
The Senate voted 52-47 for an amendment that would have renewed the 10- year ban on the sale of assault weapons.
Democrats who voted in favor:
-- Akaka, Hawaii; Bayh, Ind.; Biden, Del.; Bingaman, N.M.; Boxer, Calif.; Breaux, La.; Byrd, W.V.; Cantwell, Wash; Carper, Del.; Clinton, N.Y.; Conrad, N.D.; Corzine, N.J.; Daschle, S.D.; Dayton, Minn.; Dodd, Conn.; Dorgan, N.D.; Durbin, Ill., Edwards, N.C.; Feinstein, Calif.; Graham, Fla.; Harkin, Iowa; Hollings, S.C.; Inouye, Hawaii; Kennedy, Mass.; Kerry, Mass.; Kohl, Wis.; Lautenberg, N.J.; Leahy, Vt.; Levin, Mich.; Lieberman, Conn.; Lincoln, Ark.; Mikulski, Md.; Murray, Wash.; Nelson, Fla.; Pryor, Ark. Reed, R.I.; Rockefeller, W.V.; Sarbanes, Md.; Schumer, N.Y.; Stabenow, Mich.; Wyden, Ore.
Republicans who voted in favor:
-- Chafee, R.I.; Collins, Me.; DeWine, Ohio; Fitzgerald, Ill., Gregg, N.H. ; Lugar, Ind.; Smith, Ore.; Snowe, Me.; Voinovich, Ohio; Warner, Va.;
Independents who voted in favor:
-- Jeffords, Vt.
Democrats who voted against:
-- Baucus, Mont.; Feingold, Wis.; Landrieu, La.; Miller, Ga.; Nelson, Neb. ; Reid, Nev.;
Republicans who voted against:
-- Alexander, Tenn.; Allard, Colo.; Allen, Va.; Bennett, Utah; Bond, Mo.; Brownback, Kan.; Bunning, Ky.; Burns, Mont.; Campbell, Colo.; Chambliss, Ga.; Cochran, Miss.; Coleman, Minn.; Cornyn, Texas; Craig, Idaho; Crapo, Idaho.; Dole, N.C.; Domenici, N.M.; Ensign, Nev.; Enzi, Wyo.; Frist, Tenn.; Graham, S. C.; Grassley, Iowa; Hagel, Neb.; Hatch, Utah; Hutchison, Texas; Inhofe, Okla.; Kyl, Ariz.; Lott, Miss.; McCain, Ariz.; McConnell, Ky.; Murkowski, Alaska; Nickles, Okla.; Roberts, Kan.; Santorum, Pa.; Sessions, Ala.; Shelby, Ala.; Specter, Pa.; Stevens, Alaska; Sununu, N.H.; Talent, Mo.; Thomas, Wyo.
Not voting:
-- Johnson, D-S.D.