Kerry says Bush gives terrorists an edge
WASHINGTON – John Kerry accused President Bush Friday of making it easier for terrorists to get dangerous weapons by allowing a ban on some semiautomatic firearms to lapse, as he waded deeper into the issue many Democrats believe cost Al Gore the election in 2000: gun control.
“In the al Qaeda manual on terror, they were telling people to go out and buy assault weapons, to come to America and buy assault weapons,” Kerry told supporters in St. Louis. “Every law enforcement officer in America doesn’t want us selling assault weapons in the streets of America. But George Bush, he says, ‘Well, I’m for that.’ “
Bush supports the federal ban on the importation of 19 types of semiautomatic weapons that is set to expire Monday, but the president has not pressured the Republican Congress to extend it. “America’s streets will be not be safe because of a choice George Bush is making,” Kerry said. The Democratic nominee will attend an event in Washington, D.C., Monday with police officers and families to criticize Bush for refusing to act.
Kerry, who talks often of owning a gun and hunting, especially when speaking to rural voters, is calculating most gun owners will not vote against him for pushing for a ban on semi-automatic firearms, aides say. Kerry’s advisers cite polling showing two of three voters support the ban as evidence swing voters, especially suburban moms, might turn on Bush for failing to fight for its extension.
“The more Kerry opens his mouth the more he reveals what he is: a Massachusetts gun-banner who in every single vote over the past 20 years has been on the wrong side of the second amendment,” said National Rifle Association President Wayne LaPierre. In the Senate, Kerry voted numerous times against the NRA, including on legislation to ban guns, impose waiting periods on gun buyers and punish some gun manufacturers.
As for the ban, LaPierre said there are numerous firearms that are legal today that are as powerful as the ones outlawed by the ban. The ban does not apply to the sale or possession of those same weapons if they were legally held before the ban took effect in 1994.
As a presidential candidate, Kerry has veered away from the gun issue. Many Democrats believe Gore’s support for gun control proposals such as clamping down on handgun sales contributed to – or caused – his defeat in West Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas and Ohio. In Iowa, union officials told Democratic leaders after the election that hundreds of Democrats from union households opposed Gore because they were convinced by the NRA that Gore would take away their guns.
After leading the charge for the original ban in 1994, many Democrats have distanced themselves from the cause in recent years. The reason: Democrats lost the House that year as many rural members, including then-speaker Tom Foley, D-Wash., were tossed from office, in part, by angry gun owners. In this year’s Democratic primaries, the candidates fell largely silent on gun control. Dozens of congressional Democrats oppose the ban today.
A new poll by the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School suggests the tide may be turning in the gun debate. The survey found 68 percent of American favor extending the ban on versions of Uzis, Tec-9s and the other firearms covered by the ban. Americans for Gun Safety, which counsels Democrats on gun issues, has tutored Kerry and others on ways to fight for the ban without offending staunch Second Amendment advocates.
Yet many political strategists believe it could be risky for Kerry to be seen as leading the movement for a gun ban, even a popular one.