Gun Control Political Connections Essay
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Gun Control
Government 2301
02 November 1996
A Well regulated militia, being necessary to the
security of a free State, the right of the people
to keep and bear arms , shall not be infringed.
Amendment II, Bill of Rights
Constitution of the U.S.
The Second Amendment has been a major issue in American politics since
1876. In question is the intent of this Amendment. Was it meant to insure that
people in general have arms for personal service, or was it intended to insure
arms for military service? The nation's powerful gun lobby, the National Rifle
Association, holds that it means the right to keep and bear arms -any arms.
This privileged right is given to those 60-65 million people who choose to own
guns. The NRA also believes that human character defects cannot be changed by a
simple regulation of guns. They argue that problems with firearm ownership
cannot be, in any way, associated with criminal violence. The lobbyist give
credibility to this statement by adding that criminal violence continues to
increase in cities like New York and Washington DC, even though gun control
statutes were put into affect. They point out that gun laws would not have
stopped most addicted killers. According to the NRA, anti-crime measures are
the way to conquer urban violence, not anti-gun measures. The hope of most
members in the association is to educate people about guns. The association is
willing to reveal proper usage of guns to non-gun owners. They feel that this
training could help reduce some of the tragedies involving guns.
The issue of gun control has become a dividing line in America. To gun
control activists, the issue is about crime and the regulation of the weapons
used to commit these crimes. In their opinion, law abiding citizens should have
no need for guns. In this respect, the big controversy seems shallow . However,
to the NRA population, a much deeper issue is in question, the issue is freedom.
The members believe that the Second Amendment is crucial to the maintenance's of
the democratic process. From their point of view, people who advocate gun
control are ready to disregard a constitutional right. They believe that, if
the Second Amendment is abridged, the First Amendment will be the next to go.
The Executive Branch of the Federal Government is in a high-profile
position on the issue of gun control. During this current Presidential election
season, much rhetoric is being exchanged on the issue. It would almost appear
that one must play to either camp in order to receive the desired endorsement of
the strong political lobby groups. In the case of Bob Dole, the Republican
Presidential candidate, his platform on gun control at times are contradictory,
but his pattern of voting on gun-related issues in the senate seem to follow the
characteristic Republican-NRA view on gun control.
President Clinton takes a very different stand on gun control. His
current re-election platform calls for further restrictions on guns and on
people who buy guns. This characteristic "Democrat" attitude on gun control
closely follows the view of Handgun Control, Inc., a political lobby group
dedicated to governmental control and regulation of guns in the United States.
Gun control and drug control are usually associated with opposite ends of the
political spectrum. Presidents Reagan and Bush were eager to pursue the war on
drugs but generally wary of gun control. However, President Clinton has made
gun control a major goal, while his drug strategy is almost invisible.
During President Clinton's administration, the Brady Bill on gun control
was passed. This bill was gridlocked in the House for seven years. The Brady
Bill (named for James Brady, press secretary to President Ronald Reagan, who was
seriously injured when he was shot during a 1981 assassination attempt against
Reagan) was signed by President Clinton, on November 30, 1993, and took effect
in March 1994. This measure imposes a 5-day waiting period for the purchase of
handguns and provides for the creation of a national computer network to check
the backgrounds of gun buyers. The Clinton Administration was also able to pass
an assault-style firearms bill that banned the sale and distribution of certain
types of automatic weapons. The ban, part of a 1994 crime bill, took effect
just months before Republicans gained control of Congress.
During the past year, President Clinton's Administration pushed to get a
terrorism bill passed and signed into law. During the whole fight, the
President and his allies insinuated more than once that opponents of the bill
were weak on crime. Gun laws tend to be passed in an atmosphere of hysteria
that discourages critical reflection. The Gun Control Act of 1968 was approved
soon after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy.
In fact, on the very day that Kennedy died, President Johnson issued an
emotional appeal to Congress demanding passage of a federal gun-control law.
Two dramatic incidents had helped create a sense of crisis, which Johnson used
to his advantage.
President Clinton tried to do something similar after last December's
shootings on the Long Island Railroad. Indeed, supporters of gun control are
usually quick to seize upon sensational acts of violence to justify more
regulation. The attempted assassination of President Reagan in 1981 ultimately
gave us the Brady law, and the Stockton massacre generated assault weapon
legislation throughout the country.
According to The Washington Post, the President is now quietly working
to repeal certain parts of the terror bill which are clearly unconstitutional.
The immigration reform bill (S. 1664), which is now in a conference committee,
will be the chosen vehicle for undoing some of the unconstitutional points in
the terror bill. The Clinton administration, however, has proven to take a hard
stand for tougher gun restriction laws, and if reelected will push harder for
more gun control laws.
The President of the United States is responsible for enforcing the
legislation passed by Congress and to enforce the rulings of the Supreme Court.
The President is the gatekeeper in the area of National Agendas. The outcome of
the Presidential Election this November 5th will determine Administrative
agenda and policy on crime, guns, and gun-control into the twenty-first century.
The Legislative branch of the government controls the enactment of laws
and the legislative process. While the president may be in charge of national
agendas, it is ultimately up to congress to pass bills into law. When Clinton
first came into office, Congress was dominated by the Democrat Party. As
mentioned earlier, Clinton was able to get the Brady Bill signed into law, as
well as get the ban on assault weapons passed through Congress before the
majority of the House shifted to favor the Republicans.
Laws passed in the States of Florida and Texas have gone in the opposite
direction. The Right to Carry Laws, were designed to reduce violent crime by
making personal weapons an equalizer between violent criminals and potential
victims. The Fort Worth Star Telegram recently reported that the fears raised
about those laws had been proven unfounded, that the feared "Bloodbath" had not
come, and never would. And according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports, in
those states that had passed Right To Carry laws, Violent Crime had been reduced.
After the Congressional shift took place, the president found it tougher
to have his political agenda on gun control carried out. Instead, the
Republican congress attempted to reverse some of the laws passed by the previous
session of Congress. In March of this year, House Republican leaders,
fulfilling a longtime promise to the National Rifle Association, voted to repeal
the ban on assault-style firearms.
Representative Charles Schumer, chief author of the 1994 legislation
(that banned the weapons), described the expedited scheduling of the vote,
announced by House Majority Leader Dick Armey, as "a sneak attack". The measure
had not even been scheduled for action by the Rules Committee, which must act
before a bill goes to the floor. The ban, part of the 1994 crime bill, took
effect just months before Republicans gained control of Congress despite active
lobbying against it by the NRA. Overturning it has been the association's top
legislative priority.
The House of Representatives voted to repeal the ban on 19 types of
semiautomatic weapons, but President Clinton said he would veto the legislation
if it gets to his desk. The vote came on a bill to remove the ban on weapons
like the AK-47 and the Uzi from the 1994 crime bill that passed when Democrats
controlled Congress. The final vote was 239-173. "It is an outrage for the
Congress to vote to repeal the assault weapon ban. It's an IOU to the National
Rifle Association," Vice President Al Gore said at a news briefing. Supporters
of the bill said the ban was ineffective and violated the constitutional right
of Americans to own guns. Clinton had denounced the bill earlier, saying, "I
believe it would be deeply wrong for Congress to repeal this assault weapon ban.
It doesn't need to be voted on in the House or the Senate and if it is passed, I
will veto it."
Several House Republican freshmen have been pressuring leaders for the
repeal, which they promised during their 1994 campaigns that created the House's
first Republican majority in 40 years. "Promises made. Promises kept," Armey
said. The majority leader's spokeswoman, Michele Davis, added later: "House
Republican leaders are fulfilling a promise made in January of 1995 to
Republican and Democratic members who asked for and were told they would get a
vote on repeal sometime in this Congress." Representative John Conyers of
Michigan, the Judiciary Committee's top Democrat, was furious. "The NRA must
consider the Republican Congress the gift that keeps on giving," Conyers said.
"Last week, the Republicans destroyed the anti-terrorism bill because the NRA
didn't like it, and now they want Uzis and AK-47s back in mass production."
Both House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, who
clinched the GOP nomination for president Tuesday, promised last year to put
repeal to a vote.
The terror bombing of Oklahoma City's federal building and the stalemate with
the Clinton administration over the federal budget helped keep the measure off
both chambers' schedules. On March 22, 1996 the bipartisan House voted to
repeal the Clinton gun ban and get tough with armed criminals was achieved
despite efforts by Administration allies who resorted to personal attacks.
"What we are going to have is a partnership of strengthening laws
against the criminal misuse of firearms, which everyone agrees is
the real problem issue, and eliminating harassment of law-abiding
gun owners who are not the problem."
--House Speaker Newt Gingrich
183 Republicans and 56 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives backed up
those words when they voted to repeal the 1994 Clinton gun and magazine ban.
Last year, Bernie Ward, a prominent Radio Talk Show host on KGO radio
out of San Francisco said "The Supreme Court has yet to strike down any law
affecting gun control" and he is right. The Supreme Court has not heard a case
involving gun control since 1934. In that case... a man was to defend his right
to possess a sawed off shotgun. The ruling was such that, since he could not
prove that the shotgun was standard military equipment, he had no right to
possess it. Therefore, had it been military equipment, he had the right to own
the weapon. Sawed off shotguns are banned in the United States as a result.
The same thinking went into the "Ban" of fully automatic fire arms, such
as the Tompson Sub Machine Gun, which was popular with organized crime during
the '20s and '30s. Lawmakers did not "ban" the weapon, so much as control it by
making it a requirement to register and obtain a license to own...
Anand, Rajen S., "The Government Terror Bill," Asian Week September 21,1996: pp. 23-26.
Baer, Donald and Ted Gest, "Guns," US News and World Report May 1989: pp.
21-25.
Cassidy, Warren, "The Case For Firearms," Time 19 January 1990: p. 23.
Congressional Records, May 29, 1995, p. S 7610
Evans, James T., Where Liberals Go To Die (Houston, Texas: Commonwealth
Publishing, 1994) p. 201.
Grey, Ian, "Guns, Militia, and the Constitution," Newsweek 16 September 1996:
pp. 41-42.
Holms, Ronald M., A Primer on the Sociology of Crime (New York, NY: McGraw-
Hill, Inc, 1991) p. 39.
Ifill, Gwen, "Another Victim?" The New York Times 24 March 1996, sec. N-1: p.
13+.
Institute for Legislative Action, "NRA Firearm Fact Card 1996," National Rifle
Association 6 February 1996: p. 1.
Malone, Michael, "Clinton's Gun Control Legacy," The Washington Post May 01,
1996, Home ed., sec. 2nd: p. 11.
NRA Firearm Fact Card 1996. p. 13
Snyder, Jeffery R., "A Nation of Cowards," The Public Interest Vol./Issue (Fall
of '93): pp. 24-31.
Sowell, Thomas, "Gun Control Proponents Have Hidden Agenda," The Times-
Mirror 02 February 1996, Evening ed., sec. Metro: pp. 7+.
U.S. Department of Justice, April 1994
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