Theys even got a Demycrat to agree with 'em.

[url=www.gomemphis.com/mca/midsouth_news/article/0,1426,MCA_1497_1097238,00.html]Article[/url]

[b]NRA targets candidates in fight to end gun ban[/b]

WASHINGTON - The National Rifle Association is pressing candidates for federal office to once again allow Americans to buy assault-style, semiautomatic weapons with high-capacity magazines.

Tennessee's three main Senate candidates say they agree with the proposal, but the leading gun control organization said the move would make it easier for terrorists to obtain semiautomatic arms.

At the urging of the Clinton administration, Congress in 1994 banned the sale of 19 types of assault weapons and magazines with more than 10 rounds. But the ban was for only 10 years.

The NRA's 2002 questionnaire asks candidates whether they agree or disagree with the NRA "that the gun and magazine ban should be allowed to sunset in 2004."

Republican Senate hopeful Lamar Alexander said Thursday he's still filling out the questionnaire but that he will support ending the ban.

"My record has been pretty consistent for 25 years in support of Second Amendment rights. I favor restrictions on fully automatic weapons, but I don't support bans," said Alexander.

U.S. Rep. Ed Bryant (R-Tenn.), another Senate hopeful, co-sponsored a bill to repeal the ban when he arrived in Congress in 1995.

In this year's campaign he has accused Alexander of supporting the ban when he ran for president. He cited a quote, supposedly taken from Alexander's 1999 campaign Web site, saying Alexander supported the assault weapons ban.

But Alexander said that's wrong.

In a March 1995 press conference, Alexander said he supported repealing the 1994 law. "The federal law won't do any good at all," Alexander said then.

U.S. Rep. Bob Clement (D-Tenn.), the other major Senate candidate, voted against the ban in 1994, but then voted in favor of the underlying crime bill. He joined Bryant in voting for the repeal in 1995.

"Our Constitution gives all Americans the right to bear arms. The ban on assault weapons is set to expire in late 2004, and I support that expiration," Clement said Thursday.

Damn good news, when even the Democratic candidate is supporting sunsetting the bill!

Remember, the damn thing passed by one vote!

The Election of 2002 is, for the RKBA, even more critical than the General Presidential Election in 2004!

Eric The(Happy)Hun[>]:)]

Gotta love that wording - "assault-style".

Ed Bryant, if Tennesseans will look closely he is the only candidate for us. Always' has been, and I like a proven record. Alexander is a joke for our right's and cannot be trusted but he has the support of the Republican party here. Look's like it will be up to the voter's in the primary. [smoke]

Maybe I'm bein' a Pollyanna, but I'm starting to feel pretty good about this damn thing going away!  It would be so nice to start seeing reasonable prices for my handgun mags again!

Maybe people are starting to realize how extreme a law the Crime Bill of '94 was.

I thought that the NRA didn't support "Assault Weapons"??  Maybe this is a good sign of things to come!  

I certainly hope you guys aren't holding your breath.

"The 1994 AW ban" will sunset, but it will be replaced with "The 2004 AW ban."

To emulate ETH:

The (highly skeptical, won't believe it 'till I see it) Michigander in Maryland

Great, some democrats support it.  Even without the help of the blue dogs, and some resistance by the CBC (which actually killed it on the first floor vote), the democrats got it passed in 1994.

Of course there's democrats who support this, but when push comes to shove in an election year like 2004 will be, the DNC is going to make it an election issue.  The blue dogs will get a free pass only because of progun support in their districts.  Consider the number of republicans in vulnerable positions who will have no choice but to support a renewal of the AWB because there's not enough progun support in their districts to overcome the democrats if they (democrats) make the AWB renewal an election issue.

Anybody know who is on the ball here in PA?

I don't feel like calling their campagin offices and getting a bullshit answer.

If it does not end I will [puke].  All it has done was raise the prices for everything.  We are still able to get anything we want, as long as your wallet is fat enough.

I get the feeling there won't be much support for the sunset in my state. [:(!]

For someone that didn't pay attention to stuff up until a couple years ago what did the Assault Weapon thing do anyhow?  What things will change if it sunsets?

And will this mean anything to Californians?  heh.

maby it wont change anything in cali, but it wont change anything in NY either. remember, it was made perminant here.

but if it does sunset nationally, it could set a precident that will trickle down to these states.

It WILL sunset anyway - the only problem is making sure they don't pass another new "bill" to take it's place.

Tyler

Very prophetic.

I'm sure the new 2004 Ban will contain enough pork and payoffs to make it a real squeaker.


Beware the RINOs!!

Education is probably the best way to have the bill sunset with no replacement legislation.  Of course, the message that has been driven into the minds of the public will be difficult to unseat.  How many people outside of your circle of influence know what an "assault weapon" is?  That seems to be the beauty of such legislation.  Decide what you want to ban then give it a name including one of the current media buzzwords....

So while you're writing your congressmen (you are writing your congressmen, eh?), be sure to educate them as well as your neighbors and associates in just what this is all about.  See if they know what an "assault weapon" is.  Tell them.  Show them it is nothing more than an arbitrary designation used to sway an uneducated decision.

That is not all that needs to be done, of course.  However, I notice that many of my colleagues simply write to their congressmen, neglecting to explain to others exactly what the issue is about.

-Ed

The big revelation of the '00 election was the red-blue split, with rural states going for Republicans and urban states going for Democrats. If you were a Democratic strategist you'd be trying hard to keep the hot-button red state issues, like gun control, off the radar, so you can try to cut into the Republican base. Gun control doesn't get them more votes in the cities but does mobilize their opponents in swing states like West Virginia and midstate Pennsylvania.

So I'm cautiously optimistic that it will sunset. Feinstein and McCarthy will probably make a stink, but I don't think they can carry the rest of the Democrats along with them. It also depends on who's got the democratic nomination for president. If it's an anti-gunner, they'll try to make it an issue.

Of course, they may come back with another ban right after the election....

Hey man.
I just moved back from NY. Cut me some slack.

Okay, before AR15fan or SteyrAug come in here and flip out, let me establish this:  The AW ban of '94 [i][b]will[/i][/b]  sunset, as prescribed by law.  The issue is the passage of a new law (perhaps a permanent one) that will accomplish the same thing as the original AW ban.

Also note:  All we would really need is for the clock to tick over to September 14, 2004, with no new law signed, and we would have it made (for AR15s, anyway).

Once again, stubbs intercedes with a pre-emptive flip out preventative post...

Don't take offense (I know you were kidding) but I actually worry about this kind of thing.

How many folks do you suppose are out there that would SUPPORT an renewed ban, just because they have a chunk of changed invested in pre-ban weapons and magazined, and don't want to see their investment devalued?

Sobering thought, that.

What it will mean to a Californian, assuming you already own a CA registered AW, is that now all your post ban lowers are the same as a pre ban lower. And since your lower is a registered AW, you can now put on all that neat stuff like threaded barrels, flash hiders, forward grips, folding butt stocks, etc. And when a anit gun congress and POTUS take power again and pass a new federal AW ban your previously post ban lower is now a pre ban lower and you get to keep all the evil features.

Woooohoooo put all your money into lowers and the NRA [:)]

Before everyone gets all misty eyed at the thought of $500 ARs again, is anyone taking odds on another mass shooting somehow magically appearing shortly before the ban sunset time frame?
Sure as God made little green apples some nutcase whacko Klinton-lover will spaz out & hit some minority group so as to even further empower the anti liberals.
Pity we gun owners can't successfully police our fellow owners. Or at least the crazy ones.

... Yeah, I wonder about this same thing. Even though the price difference [u]NOW[/u] is not that drastic will there still be folks "on a budget" that will fall to this?  Economics says yes.

It is a given.

I would not be surprised at all if the incident is not unlike that thought up by that anti-gun weenie, art buchwald.

My first AR-15 (Built from a Kit, 12/19/2001) cost me less than $500. What you will see is AR-15s for under $400 because that is all SP1s are worth.

I won't mention names next time. [;)]