[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 103 (Thursday, July 22, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8651-S8652]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    JUST SEVEN LEGISLATIVE DAYS LEFT

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, this week is the last week that Congress is 
in session before the August recess and there is only one additional 
week to act before the Assault Weapons Ban expires on September 13th. 
This past Monday, one of our former colleagues, Senator Howard 
Metzenbaum, wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post. In his article, 
Senator Metzenbaum highlights the broad support this law has among 
Americans, as well as the inconsistencies between the stated positions 
and the actions of President Bush on the reauthorization of this 
critical law.
  As my colleagues know, in addition to banning 19 specific weapons, 
the existing ban makes it illegal to ``manufacture, transfer, or 
possess a semiautomatic'' firearm that can accept a detachable magazine 
and has more than one of several specific military features, such as 
folding/telescoping stocks, protruding pistol grips, bayonet mounts, 
threaded muzzles or flash suppressors, barrel shrouds or grenade 
launchers. These weapons are dangerous and they should not be on 
America's streets.
  In April of this year, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence 
joined hundreds of local elected officials and senior law enforcement 
officials to urge President Bush to push for reauthorization of this 
critical piece of gun safety legislation. Since then, the support for 
this important law has grown exponentially. In addition to former 
Presidents Ford, Carter, and Clinton, nearly every major law 
enforcement organization in the country, gun safety organizations, a 
bipartisan majority of the Senate, and countless local leaders have 
added their names to the list of supporters. I commend them for their 
efforts in support of this commonsense gun safety legislation.
  In 1994, I voted for the assault weapons ban and in March of this 
year I joined a bipartisan majority of the Senate in voting to extend 
the assault weapons ban for 10 years. Unfortunately, despite Senate 
passage of the amendment, it appears that this important gun safety law 
will be allowed to expire. The House Republican leadership opposes 
reauthorizing the law and President Bush, though he has said he 
supports it, has done little to help keep the law alive.
  I ask unanimous consent that the op-ed from Senator Metzenbaum be 
printed in the Record at the end of my statement. I also ask that the 
list of organizations in support of this critical piece of gun safety 
legislation be printed in the Record following Senator Metzenbaum's op-
ed.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                 America Wants the Assault Weapons Ban

                       (By Howard M. Metzenbaum)

       A decade ago I was privileged to lead a fight with Senator 
     Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on what for me has become a 
     deeply personal issue: the federal ban on assault weapons. 
     These killing machines had no place on our streets in 1994 
     and they have no place now. Yet as the days pass, it is 
     becoming clear that many members of Congress are content to 
     skip through the summer months doing nothing while awaiting 
     this fall's

[[Page S8652]]

     greatest prize--not the elections, but the sunset of the 
     assault weapons ban.
       Ten years after that great victory we are facing the 
     extinction of an important public safety law that was an 
     unusual piece of bipartisan lawmaking. In 1994 I had the 
     support of two men whom I would rarely call my allies, 
     Republican icons Ronald Reagan and Rudy Giuliani. As a 
     result, Congress was able to put public safety ahead of 
     special-interest politics.
       What's going on these days, by contrast, is typical 
     political doublespeak. The president speaks publicly in 
     support of the assault weapons ban but refuses to lobby 
     actively for it. The House majority leader, Tom DeLay of 
     Texas, says the president never told him personally that he 
     wants the assault weapons ban renewed, so DeLay isn't going 
     to pass it.
       There you have it. The president says he supports the 
     assault weapons ban but refuses to lift a finger for it. And 
     the powerful House majority leader--who does not support the 
     ban--is pretending that all it would take to pass it is a 
     word from the president.
       This is a tragic development for many reasons, not the 
     least of which is that the public wants this legislation. A 
     new study, ``Unconventional Wisdom,'' by the Consumer 
     Federation of America and the Educational Fund to Stop Gun 
     Violence, found that a substantial majority of likely voters 
     in 10 states support renewing and strengthening the federal 
     assault weapons ban, as do most gun owners and National Rifle 
     Association supporters. The survey found that:
       Voters in Midwestern states supported renewing the assault 
     weapons ban slightly more than those in Southwestern states. 
     Midwestern states (Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and Missouri) 
     averaged 72 percent support for renewal. Southwestern states 
     (Arizona and New Mexico) averaged 67 percent. In Florida, 81 
     percent of likely voters support renewing the ban.
       Rural states, traditionally seen as very conservative on 
     gun issues, strongly favored renewing the ban. Sixty-eight 
     percent of voters in South Dakota and West Virginia support 
     renewal.
       Majorities of gun owners in all but two states favored 
     renewing the ban. Even in those two states, Missouri and 
     Ohio, only slightly less than 50 percent of gun owners and 
     NRA supporters favored renewing the ban.
       In nine of 10 states surveyed, union households supported 
     renewing the ban by at least 60 percent. In Pennsylvania, 80 
     percent of union households supported renewing the ban and 73 
     percent supported strengthening it.
       At least 60 percent of current and former military members 
     and military families supported renewing the ban in all 
     states surveyed. In Wisconsin, more than three-fourths, 77 
     percent, of current and former military members and military 
     families support renewing the ban.
       In March the Senate passed a renewed ban as an amendment to 
     a gun industry immunity bill, which was the NRA's top 
     legislative priority. President Bush issued a statement of 
     administration policy calling the assault weapons ban 
     amendment ``unacceptable.'' The amendment passed on a 
     bipartisan vote, 52 to 47, but the underlying bill was 
     defeated. It was a stunning loss for the gun lobby. The NRA 
     opposes even a straight renewal of the ban. It maintains that 
     most Americans don't want the ban renewed, let alone 
     strengthened, and that Congress should let the ban expire. 
     Not true.
       The gun industry is licking its chops waiting for the ban 
     to expire. In an upcoming report from the Consumer Federation 
     of America, ``Back in Business,'' one assault weapon 
     manufacturer's sales and marketing director told us, ``When 
     the AWB sunsets, which I fully expect it to do, we will be 
     manufacturing pre-ban style weapons and shipping them to the 
     general public through distribution systems and dealers the 
     very next day without doubt. . . . We look forward to Sept. 
     14th with great enthusiasm.''
       After 19 years in the Senate, I understand differences of 
     opinions, ideologies and constituencies. What I cannot 
     understand is why congressional leaders and the 
     administration think that the American public won't notice 
     that the ban expired. We'll notice, and they'll be sorry.
       Reauthorizing the assault weapons ban is supported by:
       Fraternal Order of Police
       International Association of Chiefs of Police
       Major City Chiefs
       National Association of Police Organizations
       National Organization of Black Police Officials
       International Brotherhood of Police Officers
       Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association
       American Probation and Parole Association
       National League of Cities
       US Conference of Mayors
       National Association of Counties
       US Conference of Catholic Bishops
       National Education Association
       American Bar Association
       NAACP
       Americans for Gun Safety
       Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence United with the 
     Million Mom March
       Church Women United
       Episcopal Church, USA
       American Academy of Family Physicians
       American Public Health Association
       Family Violence Prevention Fund
       National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
       National Network to End Domestic Violence
       National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems
       National Association of Social Workers
       Physicians for a Violence Free Society
       American Association of Suicidology
       Mothers Against Violence in America
       Child Welfare League of America
       Alliance for Justice

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