Kerry blasts inaction on weapons ban

The assault-weapons ban will expire Monday if not renewed by Congress.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- Sen. John Kerry, who likes to present himself as a hunter and gun owner, accused President Bush on Friday of being beholden to the National Rifle Association and the gun lobby because he hasn't pressed Congress to extend the 10-year-old assault-weapons ban that expires Monday.
Kerry advocates renewing the assault-weapons ban. He chose two states with sizable hunter populations to issue his toughest indictment of Bush yet on the issue. He first made his point in Missouri, a state with nearly half a million hunters, and reiterated it later in Pennsylvania, home to some 1 million hunters.
During the 2000 presidential campaign, Bush said he'd support an extension of the ban. But though he's been effective in pushing his own legislation through the Republican Congress, he hasn't actively encouraged congressional leaders to renew the 1994 law.
"George Bush, who said, 'Oh, I'm for that,' never asked the Congress to pass it, never pushed the Congress to pass it, never stood up, gives in to the NRA, gives in to the special interests, and America's streets will not be as safe because of the choice George Bush has made," Kerry said.
Kerry portrayed the ban as a means to deter terrorism, thus trying to weaken Bush on turf where polls show the president is strong.
"If you're going to make America safe ... you have to stand up for homeland security, stand up for police officers and keep those weapons off the streets of our country," he said in Allentown.
NRA against Kerry
Kerry's remarks came two days after the NRA launched a $400,000 ad campaign in several crucial election states portraying Kerry as an opponent of the Second Amendment's right to bear arms. Kerry is banking on polls that show two-thirds of Americans believe the ban should be renewed. The stance is also popular with liberals and suburban women, many of whom believe in even tougher gun restrictions.
Kerry cultivates an image as an avid and skilled sportsman in an attempt to reverse the Democratic Party's image as anti-gun. He's gone hunting in Iowa, shot skeet in Ohio, and campaign workers distribute pictures of Kerry, shotgun in hand, at union halls in battleground states.
Congressional supporters of the ban, however, have faulted Kerry for not taking a more vocal stand earlier. It's now clear that Congress won't extend the law, and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said this week that he had no intention of bringing the ban to the floor of the House. That means that starting Monday, the guns the 1994 law banned will be legal again.
Bush camp response
The Bush campaign charged that Kerry's criticism, coming now that polls show him trailing Bush, was a desperate attempt to rally the Democratic base.
"Senator Kerry, from the first day he arrived in the U.S. Senate, has been hostile to Second Amendment rights," charged Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt. He said Kerry was engaging in a "flailing attack" to "appease the out-of-the-mainstream elements in his party by attacking gun owners."
Schmidt said Bush's "crystal clear" position is that he would support a "clean reauthorization of the ban."
In his 20-year career in the Senate, Kerry consistently has voted in favor of gun legislation opposed by the NRA, and as a result received an F grade from the organization. Kerry has supported waiting periods for gun purchases and opposed legislation that would require destroying the records of background checks on prospective gun buyers within 24 hours. He also has supported a broader ban on assault weapons.