[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 13] [Senate] [Pages 17039-17040] [From the U.S. 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 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. [[Page 17040]] 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 ____________________