For Feinstein, Taking On Big Guns Pays Off

In Washington, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein leaped from her chair and pumped both fists in celebration as television flashed the final House vote on her proposed assault weapons ban. All through the tense voting last Thursday, she had been lobbying House members by telephone from her office desk.

In West Los Angeles at Feinstein’s reelection headquarters, campaign manager Kam Kuwata calmly picked up the phone and began calling contributors. He and staffers had watched the electronic voting on C-SPAN, booing whenever the gunners edged ahead and cheering as their boss’ side took a lead. Now, he would call donors and provide a little personal service, giving them a heads-up before the evening news that Feinstein’s controversial proposal had passed by a scant two-vote margin.

In Sacramento, state Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) began receiving interview requests from reporters looking for the California angle. He was--as his campaign literature proclaimed--”The Man Who Banned Assault Weapons” in California five years ago. And he had just routed the gun lobby in its attempt to recall him.

On Friday, Roberti would phone contributors and raise $50,000 for his state treasurer’s race. It wouldn’t hurt that the U.S. House--spurred by President Clinton’s high-profile lobbying effort--had just passed an assault weapons ban similar to his.

“It’s the thing everybody wants to talk about,” Roberti says. “They don’t talk to me about interest rates on Wall Street. (Gun control) is more interesting and very volatile and current. That’s what they think of when I call.”

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Democrats continue to cash in politically on the popular issue of gun control. Republicans usually have the upper hand on two other hot issues, crime and illegal immigration. On those matters, many Democrats shy away from alienating their liberal constituencies. Likewise, Republicans seem to own all salable “tax and spend” rhetoric.

But on firearms, it’s the Democrats who are on the side of overwhelming public opinion. And it’s GOP politicians who have been left behind, intimidated by a gun lobby whose vociferous bark has become louder than its toothless bite.

The National Rifle Assn. is “not as strong and not as smart” as it thinks, Roberti says. “If they were smart, they’d come up with reasonable proposals that met the public’s need. But they just oppose everything.”

Feinstein found out about NRA unreasonableness. Last year, the senator sent a draft of her legislation to the NRA and asked for suggestions. “What I got back was nothing,” she says. “I called and was told that the NRA board had met and decided to oppose it, but nobody had told me.”

An influential colleague tried to discourage her. The rookie senator sought counsel from Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) of the Senate Judiciary Committee and was advised that her cause was hopeless. Trying to amend an assault weapons ban into the Senate crime bill “could bring down the whole crime bill,” Biden warned, according to Feinstein. “But he said it would be a good lesson for me if I wanted to try.”

Feinstein amended the crime bill, and it wasn’t brought down. Then, working the talk shows, victims groups and reluctant colleagues nonstop, she helped Rep. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) pass a separate bill in the House. Next, a conference committee is expected to amend the proposal into a final crime bill.

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In Sacramento, the consensus is that none of this will have a big impact on pending state gun bills. The California Legislature already has banned most assault weapons and imposed a waiting period for gun purchases.

Now, it is considering the next moderate steps--including licensing for handgun and ammunition purchases, a handgun purchase limit of one per month, a reduction in clip capacities, a possible felony penalty for illegally carrying a concealable weapon, and a prohibition against law enforcement agencies auctioning confiscated firearms.

Unlike Washington, Sacramento doesn’t have a chief executive pushing for gun control. Gov. Pete Wilson has kept silent.

As for Feinstein, she’s one of the rare Democrats who not only is tough on gun control but also illegal immigration and crime. That has put her in the electoral mainstream on some cutting issues. What’s more, she has been out front, fighting more aggressively and effectively than any other rookie California senator in decades.

Feinstein’s ability to make an immediate mark in a legislative body dominated by veterans and ruled by seniority is why she now is California’s most popular politician--based on the latest Times Poll--and is a heavy favorite for reelection.