Stand Up, Be Counted on Guns

Today could be freedom day for U.S. senators who know that responsible gun control is a sane, effective way to combat violence but have refused to support such controls for fear of the gun lobby. This day offers them freedom from the tyranny of the National Rifle Assn. and its dwindling ability to exact electoral revenge on its foes. If they have a little courage, these senators can finally throw off their fealty to the NRA and vote the wish of most Americans for passage of several gun control proposals.

The message in Congress since last week is that the Littleton, Colo., massacre has forever altered the dynamics of the gun control debate. No longer can the gun lobby claim the moral ground of constitutional principle. The gun supporters are down to fighting for the preservation of nasty little loopholes in current laws.

The sea change began last Wednesday when the Senate defeated, 51 to 39, a Democratic-sponsored proposal to require background checks on anyone attempting to buy a weapon at a gun show. By Thursday morning, national outrage had rolled over the Capitol. Moderate Republicans who had helped defeat the proposal panicked. This was not about the feds confiscating America’s guns or ripping up the Constitution. This was about applying to gun shows what already is the law in any gun shop. The moderates demanded, and got, a new vote. A substitute GOP provision passed Friday, 48 to 47.

But incredibly, the NRA had been lurking in the back rooms still working its will. The gun show measure that passed Friday was written by Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Ida.), an NRA director who, it turns out, allowed NRA attorneys to screen it. Not surprisingly, Democrats protested that the Craig proposal was riddled with loopholes and far weaker than the plan rejected Wednesday.

The Senate is scheduled to vote today on several gun control amendments to the juvenile justice bill. Democrats are demanding another chance to clamp down appropriately on gun show sales, and to approve a requirement that every handgun sold have a child-proof safety lock. Republican moderates and others can declare their freedom at last from the gun lobby. All they need do is vote yes.