Kerry Gun-Shy on Assault Weapons

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Isn't it about time that Dems should drop this issue?


"WASHINGTON -- John Peck, a convicted felon, paid $350 to the private owner of an SKS semiautomatic rifle and used it three weeks later to shoot his former girlfriend 11 times.

The May sale to the North Carolina college student was legal as far as the seller was concerned. No background check is required when individual owners sell their guns, nor at gun shows where such weapons routinely sell for less than $200. Peck, who later killed himself, even got a receipt.

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Last November, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, now the likely Democratic nominee for president, cosponsored legislation by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., that would make permanent the 1994 assault weapons ban, tighten control of highcapacity magazines and expand coverage to include the SKS and dozens of other rifles, pistols and shotguns. The bill, which has since languished, would ban manufacture and import of those models and require all sales of those already in circulation to go through licensed dealers, complete with background checks.

Making the one-on-one sale to another Peck would be illegal under such a law.

But Kerry is likely to seek renewal of the existing assault weapons ban rather than advocate an expansion as he reaches out to rural voters with guns, campaign aides said last week. That reflects a broader effort by Democrats to come to political grips with the Second Amendment.

Kerry and newly minted running mate John Edwards of North Carolina set out last week to wrestle rural votes in the South and Midwest from President Bush. Several analysts said they must strike a moderate tone on guns for that to work.

Gun control could become a volatile issue just as the campaign season heats up because the current ban on 19 notorious weapons, such as Uzis and AK-47s, is set to expire on Sept. 13.

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That could put Kerry on the spot. He has gone out of his way to be seen hunting during his campaign. Strategists for his campaign last week were pushing for a promise in the party platform to "protect Americans' Second Amendment right to own firearms."

"It's a statement of respect for their rights under the Constitution. . . . It's something that John Kerry, as a believer in the Second Amendment and as a hunter, thinks is important," said Robert Gordon, director of domestic policy for the Kerry campaign.

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Democrats worry about alienating potential swing voters in competitive states like Louisiana, North Carolina and Florida where gun rights hold some sway. Many analysts think fear of Al Gore's gun control beliefs hurt him in West Virginia and his home state of Tennessee, and other Democrats have been ginger with guns in recent elections.


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