Democrats Maneuver to Force Gun Vote

Days after the largest gun-control rally in U.S. history, Democrats launched an all-out campaign Tuesday to maneuver the Republican-controlled Senate into taking votes on controversial gun issues.

As a first strike in what could be a drawn-out battle, Democrats forced the Senate’s Republican majority to schedule a vote today on a gun-control resolution packaged as an amendment to a military construction bill.

The Democratic resolution, which was nonbinding, would praise the Million Mom March and urge speedy congressional passage of a strict ban on unchecked sales at weekend gun shows.

Republicans at the same time scheduled a vote on their own resolution, also nonbinding, that calls for a “comprehensive approach” to fighting juvenile crime, enhanced enforcement of federal firearm laws and a reaffirmation of the right of law-abiding citizens to own firearms.

The votes will mark the first concrete action in Congress on the gun issue since hundreds of thousands of mothers and other advocates mobilized around the country on Mother’s Day for gun control.

The decision to schedule the votes came after a series of procedural maneuvers by Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), the Senate minority leader, convinced his Republican counterpart, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), that Democrats would make good on their threat to squelch all other business in the chamber. More than two hours of Senate time Tuesday afternoon was taken up with calls for senators to form a quorum and other parliamentary stalling tactics.

An elated Daschle afterward told reporters that the action would send a message to the marchers, many of whom rallied here on the National Mall in sight of the Capitol.

“We wanted to say, ‘We heard you and we share your frustration about the inaction of the United States Senate,’ ” Daschle said.

Lott at first balked at allowing the vote on the Democratic measure, asserting that it should be declared not germane to the military bill. Separately, senators are weighing another amendment to that bill that addresses U.S. involvement in Kosovo. Lott’s spokesman, John Czwartacki, accused Democrats of seeking to avoid the Kosovo issue and score political points off incidents of gun violence. The Democratic stalling tactics, Czwartacki said, were “the equivalent of a 3-year-old holding his breath and pounding his fist on the table.”

The Republican resolution seems likely to pass. In fact, Daschle said that he did not object to it. But the outcome of the vote on the Democratic resolution is uncertain. The vote could break largely on party lines. Or it could draw some support from a handful of moderate Republicans who have voted previously for gun control. Daschle said that he would decide today whether to ask Vice President Al Gore to be ready to break a tie--a constitutional privilege Gore holds as the president of the Senate.

Tuesday’s maneuvering on gun issues came four days before the one-year anniversary of a dramatic Senate vote to require background checks on all sales at weekend gun shows for up to three days. In that instance, Gore broke a 50-50 tie on a key amendment to propel gun-control legislation through the Senate. But the legislation has since stalled because of opposition in the House.

Ultimately, Senate Democrats hope to force a repeat vote on a handful of gun-control measures, in part to answer the Mother’s Day marchers and in part to draw attention to an issue they think will help their party in an election year. Democrats pledged Tuesday to begin reading into the Senate record every day names of victims of gun violence to put pressure on Republicans to schedule a more significant gun vote.

The pressure tactics the Democrats employed Tuesday are commonplace in the Senate, an institution that historically has given great deference to minority blocs and even to individual senators. So while Republicans outnumber Democrats, 55 to 45, Daschle has significant power to influence the chamber’s agenda--far more than his Democratic counterparts in the GOP-controlled House.

“We basically blindsided [Lott] on this,” said Daschle spokeswoman Ranit Schmelzer.