http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/10966233.htm
Feb. 23, 2005
By MATT STEARNS
Rep. Ike Skelton, a Missouri Democrat
WASHINGTON — The national debate over gun rights, for decades among the most searing and divisive of political issues, appears to be all but over in Congress.
That means that the assault weapons ban, a signature achievement of gun control advocates that expired last year, probably will not resurface anytime soon.
Conversely, congressional leaders and the Bush administration haven't put a priority on efforts to expand gun rights.
“There's a perception that Washington is not the place to take the debate at this moment,” said Saul Cornell, a historian who is director of the Second Amendment Research Center at Ohio State University. He said that politicians on both sides see little advantage in pressing the issue.
Democrats, desperate to regain their appeal to middle America, are moving away from the party's long identification with gun control, much to the relief of many beleaguered Democrats in states like Missouri.
“It's a loser,” Rep. Ike Skelton, a Missouri Democrat, said of gun control.
Republicans, on the other hand, have become wary of boasting about their long and profitable alliance with the National Rifle Association, the nation's leading gun rights group.
In the 2004 election cycle, the NRA's political action committee spent more than $12 million, mostly to aid Republicans. That included $1.2 million backing President Bush and more than $1.5 million in efforts against Democratic nominee John Kerry.
Yet during the campaign, Bush joined Kerry in supporting an extension of the assault weapons ban and closing the so-called gun show loophole, which allows buyers to avoid background checks by making purchases from private sellers at gun shows. Both were popular among many swing voters.
“There is a potential for backlash,” George Connor, a political scientist at Southwest Missouri State University, said of the Republican two-step. “They can't go too far.”
Connor pointed out that Republicans basically have already “gotten everything they wanted. They wanted to protect the rights of gun owners and average citizens, which they've done. … I don't think they're going to push any farther than they already have.”
While Bush and many Republicans voice support for a bill that would give gun makers immunity from civil lawsuits, the bill is not a priority of Republican congressional leaders.
It's the Democrats who are moving further and faster from their previous position on guns. It's a notable change from 1994, when the assault weapons ban passed with backing from President Bill Clinton and a Democratic Congress.
That coincided with the beginning of a big decline in Democratic support in rural areas. The year the ban passed, Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years.
Now Democrats want to reconnect with those voters.
Two new Democratic leaders, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, are examples of the party's current direction.
Reid received $4,500 from the NRA in his 2004 re-election campaign and voted against extending the assault weapons ban last year. Dean was endorsed by the NRA in his races for governor of Vermont and said during his presidential campaign that the issue generally should be left to the states.
A third national Democratic leader, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, has long been a gun control advocate. But she also founded the House Rural Working Group in an effort to reinvigorate Democratic support in rural America. Skelton, one of the group's members, said their message to Pelosi included: Ease up on guns.
Skelton, a pro-gun Democrat who has represented a largely rural district since 1976 and received $2,000 from the NRA for his 2004 campaign, said Democratic leadership's recognition of the importance of guns in small-town and rural America was “much belated.”
“Many in the Democratic leadership know that small-town and rural America is very pro-gun,” Skelton said. “It's part of our rural society, and people have to respect that. I think Democratic leadership is understanding that and reflecting that obligation to respect rural values.”
Skelton called Dean's stance on guns “very helpful” as the party attempts to woo disaffected rural voters.
Eric Howard, a spokesman for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, conceded that times were grim for gun control advocates.
“It doesn't help at this point,” Howard said of Reid's and Dean's positions on guns. “We do much better if more people are talking about this issue. I believe the gun lobby prefers to close off debate. … It needs leadership.”
John Lacey, a spokesman for Americans for Gun Safety, which sells itself as a moderating force in the gun debate, said the debate appears to be evolving from the extremes that once distinguished both political parties.
“You'll see an evolution where people say, ‘How do we keep guns out of the hands of criminals?'” Lacey said. “Gun laws shouldn't make it egregiously harder for law-abiding Americans to buy guns.”
The NRA isn't taking any victory laps, vowing to keep an eye on Democrats to ensure “their record matches their rhetoric,” said Andrew Arulanandam, an NRA spokesman.
“Anyone who claims the Second Amendment is now officially immune from attack because more folks in D.C. are getting politically savvy is off the mark in their political assessment,” he said. “We've seen the Democrats suffer as a result of their support for gun control. But we've also seen the gun control movement evolve.”
Now, the fight is more likely to be in courts and at the local level than in the halls of Congress, Arulanandam said.
Representative Ike Skelton (D-MO 4th)
15th-term Democrat from Missouri.
Key Votes
Name of Legislation voted score
Passed H.R. 418: National ID Card 02/10/2005 Y X
Passed DC Gun Ban Repeal 09/29/2004 Y OK
Failed Cut off taxpayer funds to anti-gun U.N.E.S.C.O. 07/22/2003 N X
Failed Paul Amendment to get U.S. out of anti-gun UN 07/15/2003 N X
Passed Stop frivolous anti-gun lawsuits 04/09/2003 Y OK
Agreed To Arming Pilots Against Terrorism Act 07/10/2002 Y OK
Passed Squelching the voice of pro-gun advocates 02/13/2002 Y X
Failed Denying the individual right to keep and bear arms 02/13/2002 N X
See other votes in the Key Votes Library (listed below)
Senate Votes
Agreed To Ammunition Restriction Study 03/02/2004 ratingX
Agreed To McCain Gun Show Ban 03/02/2004
Agreed To Feinstein Semi-auto Ban 03/02/2004 ratingX
Agreed To Lock Up Your Safety Requirement 02/26/2004 ratingX
Passed Incumbent Protection (Campaign Finance) 03/20/2002 ratingX
Passed McCain's Incumbent Protection 04/02/2001 ratingX
Agreed To Praising Gun Control Moms 05/17/2000 ratingX
Agreed To Enforce anti-gun laws and protect gun owners 05/17/2000 -----
Failed Non-binding Senate instructions 04/10/2000 ratingX
Rejected Non-binding Senate instructions 03/02/2000 ratingX
Rejected Sink the gun makers 02/02/2000 ratingX
Agreed To Ending the Smith filibuster 07/28/1999 ratingX
Passed Anti-gun juvenile crime bill 05/20/1999 ratingX
Passed Banning private sales of firearms at gun shows 05/20/1999 ratingX
Passed Background registration checks 05/20/1999 ratingX
Agreed To Hatch-Kohl 05/18/1999 ratingX
Agreed To Internet firearms sales 05/14/1999 ratingOK
Passed Hatch-Craig Gun Control 05/14/1999 ratingX
Failed Defeating Hatch-Craig Gun Control 05/13/1999 rating OK
Failed Defeating a medium-capacity magazine ban 05/13/1999 rating OK
Agreed To Young adult gun ban 05/13/1999 ratingX
Rejected Stopping the gun show ban 05/12/1999 rating OK
Agreed To Gutting of the Smith Amendment 10/21/1998 ratingX
Agreed To Defeating magazine import ban 07/28/1998 rating OK
Agreed To Defeating "lock up your safety" 07/22/1998 rating OK
Agreed To No taxing or registering of gun owners 07/21/1998 rating OK
Agreed To Defeating mandatory trigger locks 07/21/1998 rating OK
Confirmed Anti-gun Clinton judge 02/11/1998 ratingX
Agreed To Anti-gun Surgeon General 02/10/1998 ratingX
Rejected Free Speech restrictions 10/07/1997 ratingX
House Votes
Passed H.R. 418: National ID Card 02/10/2005 ratingX
Passed DC Gun Ban Repeal 09/29/2004 rating OK
Failed Cut off taxpayer funds to anti-gun U.N.E.S.C.O. 07/22/2003 rating OK
Failed Paul Amendment to get U.S. out of anti-gun UN 07/15/2003 rating OK
Passed Stop frivolous anti-gun lawsuits 04/09/2003 rating OK
Agreed To Arming Pilots Against Terrorism Act 07/10/2002 rating OK
Passed Squelching the voice of pro-gun advocates 02/13/2002 ratingX
Failed Denying the individual right to keep and bear arms 02/13/2002 rating OK
Failed No UN gun control 07/18/2001 rating OK
Failed FBI registration of gun owners 07/18/2001 ratingX
Failed Stopping the BATF from enforcing the Clinton and Wesson pact 07/20/2000 rating OK
Failed Cutting off enforcement of the Clinton and Wesson pact 06/26/2000 rating OK
Failed Denying enforcement of S&W sell-out 06/21/2000 rating OK
Agreed To Reining in HUD's gun control agenda 06/21/2000 rating OK
Passed Conyers motion to instruct 04/11/2000 ratingX
Passed Lofgren anti-gun motion to instruct 03/15/2000 ratingX
Passed Anti-gun instructions for House conferees 09/24/1999 ratingX
Passed Pro-gun instructions for House conferees 09/24/1999 rating OK
Failed Lawsuits against gun owners 09/23/1999 ratingX
Passed Final passage of the Incumbent Protection Bill 09/14/1999 ratingX
Failed Protecting free speech 09/14/1999 rating OK
Failed Protecting free speech 09/14/1999 rating OK
Passed Non-binding gun control 07/30/1999 ratingX
Failed Omnibus Republican gun control package 06/18/1999 ratingX
Failed Omnibus Democratic gun control package 06/18/1999 ratingX
Agreed To Lifetime gun ban for certain juveniles 06/18/1999 ratingX
Agreed To Self-defense for DC homeowners 06/18/1999 rating OK
Failed Self-defense for DC residents 06/18/1999 rating OK
Agreed To Partial Brady repeal (on pawn shop gun sales) 06/18/1999 rating OK
Agreed To Punishing young adults for merely touching certain semi-automatic firearms 06/18/1999 ratingX
Agreed To Concealed carry for cops 06/18/1999 --
Agreed To Mandatory sales of "lock up your safety" devices 06/18/1999 ratingX
Failed Banning private sales at gun shows 06/18/1999 ratingX
Agreed To Firearms related provisions 06/18/1999 --
Failed Harassment of gun owners and gun dealers 06/17/1999 ratingX
Agreed To Government "War on Gun Owners" Amendment 06/16/1999 ratingX
Passed Free Speech restrictions 08/06/1998 ratingX
Failed Gun Theft amendment 07/16/1998 ratingX
Passed "Seven anti-gun clones of Schumer" 03/04/1998 ratingX
Passed Mandatory jail time for self-defense? 02/24/1998 ratingX
Failed Get the U.S. out of the anti-gun U.N. 06/04/1997 rating OK
legend= rating ok-GOA supported ratingX or X-GOA did not support ----GOA had no position