2008 Woodie Awards
All the News That Gives Us Fits
Safety Bites the Bullet
Katharine Anderson
Issue date: 9/29/04 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
Let's take a moment to thank President Bush for doing everything he can to make this country a safer place for our families.
Wait, that's right, we can't.
Sept. 13 marked the expiration of the 10-year-long federal ban on assault weapons. The ban, which was penned into effect by former President Bill Clinton in 1994, outlawed 19 types of military-style assault weapons and banned features on firearms such as high capacity magazines (over 10 rounds), flash suppressors and bayonet mounts.
Bush vowed during the 2000 presidential campaign to sign an assault weapons ban renewal if the GOP-led Congress passed it.
Surprisingly, the renewal hasn't been signed.
The National Rifle Association, which publicly decried the ban, conveniently withheld their support (monetary included, of course) of Bush in the 2004 campaign until after the law expired.
We can be expecting an announcement of their endorsement of Bush any day now.
"When it came time to do it, when it came time to make a phone call, when it came time to fight, when it came time to lead ... George Bush's powerful friends in the gun lobby asked him to look the other way, and he said 'Sure,'" Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said.
The day the ban expired Bush's administration issued a description of their efforts against crime, touting Bush's endorsement by the Fraternal Order of Police.
I'm sure that police officers across the country whose lives have been put in that much more danger by these weapons hitting the streets again support Bush.
Why not, it's only their lives he is gambling with.
"George Bush made a choice today. He chose his powerful friends in the gun lobby over the police officers and the families he promised to protect," said Kerry, hours after the end of the ban.
"Bush made the job of terrorists easier and made the job of America's law enforcement officers harder and that's just plan wrong," said Kerry.
Spokesman Scott McClellan said that Bush believes the best way to curb gun violence is to enforce the existing laws, adding that violent crime is at 30-year low.
"The president's position is well known," McClellan said to reporters aboard Air Force One. "Congress is well aware of the president's position."
Well, Scott, we are getting just a little tired of the Bush Administration's nifty habit of playing 'pass the buck.'
It's nobody's fault, right?
Wrong.
Bush had ample opportunity to pick up the phone and push Congress to get that ban on his desk. He could've fought for us.
He didn't.
But then, Bush has always been about the money, hasn't he?
Wait, that's right, we can't.
Sept. 13 marked the expiration of the 10-year-long federal ban on assault weapons. The ban, which was penned into effect by former President Bill Clinton in 1994, outlawed 19 types of military-style assault weapons and banned features on firearms such as high capacity magazines (over 10 rounds), flash suppressors and bayonet mounts.
Bush vowed during the 2000 presidential campaign to sign an assault weapons ban renewal if the GOP-led Congress passed it.
Surprisingly, the renewal hasn't been signed.
The National Rifle Association, which publicly decried the ban, conveniently withheld their support (monetary included, of course) of Bush in the 2004 campaign until after the law expired.
We can be expecting an announcement of their endorsement of Bush any day now.
"When it came time to do it, when it came time to make a phone call, when it came time to fight, when it came time to lead ... George Bush's powerful friends in the gun lobby asked him to look the other way, and he said 'Sure,'" Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said.
The day the ban expired Bush's administration issued a description of their efforts against crime, touting Bush's endorsement by the Fraternal Order of Police.
I'm sure that police officers across the country whose lives have been put in that much more danger by these weapons hitting the streets again support Bush.
Why not, it's only their lives he is gambling with.
"George Bush made a choice today. He chose his powerful friends in the gun lobby over the police officers and the families he promised to protect," said Kerry, hours after the end of the ban.
"Bush made the job of terrorists easier and made the job of America's law enforcement officers harder and that's just plan wrong," said Kerry.
Spokesman Scott McClellan said that Bush believes the best way to curb gun violence is to enforce the existing laws, adding that violent crime is at 30-year low.
"The president's position is well known," McClellan said to reporters aboard Air Force One. "Congress is well aware of the president's position."
Well, Scott, we are getting just a little tired of the Bush Administration's nifty habit of playing 'pass the buck.'
It's nobody's fault, right?
Wrong.
Bush had ample opportunity to pick up the phone and push Congress to get that ban on his desk. He could've fought for us.
He didn't.
But then, Bush has always been about the money, hasn't he?
