Boxer Raps Jones on Gun Laws

With the federal ban on assault weapons set to expire Monday, Democratic incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer sought Friday to make an issue of Republican challenger Bill Jones’ record of opposition to gun control.

Jones, who has said he supports the federal ban, responded by accusing Boxer of not supporting tougher sentences against criminals.

The ban, which was written by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), has been in effect for 10 years. It forbids the manufacture or importation of 19 military-style assault weapons -- those that automatically load but fire only once per trigger-pull. It also bans ammunition cartridges holding more than 10 rounds.

President Bush has said he would support extending the ban, but backers say he has not made an effort to actually get it passed. The Senate voted to extend the ban, but only as part of a larger bill the chamber’s Republican leadership then scuttled. In the House, the Republican leadership has not allowed the bill to come up for a vote.

More stringent state regulations remain in effect in California, although gun-control advocates fear those will be undermined if banned guns can be bought legally in neighboring states.

While the federal ban has long been identified with Feinstein, Boxer has also supported it as part of what she calls “sensible gun laws.”

Jones cast several votes against gun control measures as a member of the California Assembly from 1982 to 1994. He opposed the state’s assault weapons ban, which was enacted in 1989 after a drifter, Patrick Purdy, used a semiautomatic AK-47 to kill five people and wound 30 others in a Stockton schoolyard.

Jones said Friday that he would support extending the federal ban, although he did not detail his reasons. His campaign strategist, Sean Walsh, said the federal ban is more precise than the state law that Jones opposed.

“This is a big issue in our campaign,” Boxer said Friday from Washington. Jones “had the opportunity to stop the sale of assault weapons multiple times,” she said.

“He had the opportunity to stand up for sanity. He voted with the gun lobby, and he’s received thousands of dollars from the gun lobby.... [Jones] even voted against enhancing crimes for adults who brandish guns on a schoolyard -- this after Stockton.”

“Now he says, ‘Trust me, I’m going to vote for the assault weapons ban.’ That is so unbelievable.... It doesn’t pass the smell test.”

Boxer has made renewing the ban a visible part of her campaign, including circulating petitions that call for its extension. More than 10,700 signatures had been gathered as of Friday.

Jones has largely ignored the issue unless asked about it, as he was Friday during a small “Move America Forward” rally at La Jolla’s Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial.

After saying he would support the extension, Jones shifted to more comfortable ground. “I believe you have to go after the criminal,” he said, citing his support for California laws that increased penalties for repeat offenders and criminals who use guns. “The legislation I passed, and helped work on, made California safer. And I am very proud of that record.”

Boxer, he said, has a different record.

“You go back and try to find any measure she voted for that increased penalties on the individual,” Jones said. “And we have proved in California that we can reduce crime in the most diverse, sophisticated state in the nation by 46% in the last decade.... Clearly, ‘Three Strikes’ and ‘10, 20, life’ [which adds penalties for crimes committed with guns] played a big role in that.”