<font color=brown>Thanks, Mr. Bush!<font color=black>
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Victorious on Gun Ban, NRA Looks Toward Elections
Sun Sep 12, 2004 10:22 AM ET
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By Joanne Kenen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With its battle to kill the decade-long U.S. ban on assault weapons won, the National Rifle Association is now setting its sights on the Nov. 2 presidential and congressional elections.
The 10-year ban on importing or manufacturing certain military-style assault weapons expires on Monday because Congress never renewed it.
While many decried its expiration and polls showed a majority of Americans supported the ban, few were ready to engage in a major fight with the NRA, the powerful gun lobby whose large financial war chest and committed 4-million membership has made it a political power for years.
"There's an enduring disconnect between public opinion and public policy on the gun issue. The majority of voters support stronger gun laws but for them the gun issue is not a No. 1 or top-tier concern," said Robert Spitzer, a political scientist at the State University of New York Cortland campus who specializes in gun politics.
"But for some of the NRA members, they are single-issue voters, deeply committed to their cause. As a consequence, they exert deep political force," he added.
The NRA, which generally supports Republicans, has not yet formally endorsed President Bush's re-election bid.
But its Web site calls his Democratic opponent, John Kerry, "the most anti-gun presidential nominee in United States history" despite efforts to paint himself as a gun owner and hunter.
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said formal endorsements would not come until Congress recessed next month, but he did not hide his preferences for Bush's record on firearms. Although Bush said in 2000 he would back extension of the assault weapons ban, he never pushed for its passage and has embraced other NRA policy priorities.
"It's pretty clear where gun owners that care about their guns are going," LaPierre said in a telephone interview last week. He said Kerry's efforts at portraying himself as a sportsman showed the Democrat recognized his vulnerability.
"That gun in Kerry's hands says more than anything I can say," LaPierre said. "He wouldn't be doing that if he didn't realize it's make-or-break-it for a candidate out in the heartland of the country."
Some analysts say Democrat Al Gore's narrow defeat in several states with a large pro-gun electorate cost him the 2000 presidential election and that the Democrats lost control of Congress in 1994 because of NRA campaigning against them. Continued ...
reuters.com |
