Assault weapons ban back in play
Feinstein tries to get reluctant Congress to renew 10-year-old law
Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Monday, February 9, 2004
©2004 San Francisco Chronicle

Washington -- Gun control hasn't emerged as a leading issue in the 2004 presidential race, but that is likely to change as Democratic California Sen. Dianne Feinstein intensifies her effort to win renewal of the decade-old assault weapons ban, which expires in September.

Feinstein's bid should be as tightly contested and bitterly fought as it was 10 years ago. The ban will be part of a package of firearms legislation before Congress that includes a gun industry proposal to win an exemption from the type of liability lawsuits filed by San Francisco and other cities across the country.

The gun control issue will surface in the middle of the campaigns for the White House and Congress. Many Republicans oppose renewal of the assault weapons ban, which House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, promises will never even come up for a floor vote in the lower house. However, President Bush has said he will sign a renewal, if it makes it to his desk.

Some congressional Democrats are uneasy about the coming fight. Many blame the party's loss of House control in 1994 on the assault weapons vote of that year and President Bill Clinton's support for the law. Al Gore's pro-gun- control positions may have cost him the electoral votes of West Virginia and New Hampshire in 2000 -- along with the presidency.

"Guns will be an issue in the election. The more Congress has to deal with it, the more candidates will be asked about it,'' said Robert J. Spitzer, a professor at the State University of New York at Cortland and the author of "The Politics of Gun Control.''