[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 29, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H1483]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SMITH AND WESSON LATEST VICTIM OF WHITE HOUSE ASSAULT ON DEMOCRACY

  (Mr. LARGENT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LARGENT. Mr. Speaker, Smith and Wesson is but the latest victim 
of the administration's assault on democracy. The recent so-called 
voluntary agreement by the gun manufacturer follows a familiar script. 
First, the administration proposed mandatory trigger locks. Then, 
finding insufficient support among Congress, the people's 
representatives, the administration turned to ulterior, undemocratic 
means, to achieve its purpose. They threatened to unleash the full 
weight of the Federal Government upon the maker of a legal product by 
suing them into oblivion.
  Guess what? The maker of the legal product decided to voluntarily do 
what the administration asked.
  The administration makes no attempt to conceal the power grab. Last 
week's Wall Street Journal quoted White House domestic policy advisor, 
Bruce Reed, as stating the agreement shows that ``the public good does 
not have to be held hostage to legislative stalemate.'' Legislative 
stalemate? Mr. Reed, it is called democracy.
  Mr. Speaker, gun legislation has not moved because the majority of 
the people believe that those who pull the trigger are the ones 
actually responsible for the outcome, not gun manufacturers or law-
abiding citizens who own firearms and use them responsibly.
  The administration calls this voluntary; I call it extortion.

                          ____________________