The GOP wanted to prove that it was tougher than the Democrats on crime, and this mandatory-sentencing provision may have been the toughest of all. But when the House took up the “Taking Back Our Streets Act” last week, the popular provision was gone. The reason: the National Rifle Association.
How could the NRA end up killing such a lock-’em-up plan? Behold the backward logic of congressional politics. The NRA’s top goal is to repeal the ban on assault weapons that passed as part of last year’s crime bill. To achieve that, the group needed a “vehicle” – a fast-moving, sure-to-pass bill to which to attach the controversial gun-ban repeal. Because the sentencing provision dealt with gun crimes, it seemed the logical choice. But GOP leaders were aghast. President Clinton would surely score points by vetoing a crime bill that repealed the assault-weapons ban. So Speaker Newt Gingrich quietly tossed the sentencing provision out of the contract. (He promises to return to it later.) That wasn’t the only part of the bill that got watered down because of NRA clout. The House voted to allow police and the FBI more latitude to make searches without warrants. But at the urging of the gun lobby, the House kept ACLU-backed restrictions on one agency: the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which the NRA accuses of using “gestapo” tactics against gun owners.
