From: [C reuters] at [clari.net] (Reuters)
Newsgroups: clari.usa.top,clari.usa.politics,clari.usa
Subject: Clinton Wows to Veto Assault Gun Repeal
Organization: Copyright 1996 by Reuters
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 1996 9:00:51 PST

                                         
         WASHINGTON (Reuter) - President Clinton lashed out Thursday  
at a Republican effort to repeal a controversial assault weapons 
ban, saying he would use his veto to block it if necessary 
because it would endanger police and the public. 
         ``I believe Congress should reject this extreme step. We  
ought to keep the assault weapon ban. And I would like to call 
upon the Republican leadership in the Congress to bring this to 
a vote,'' Clinton said. 
         The ban to which the president referred outlaws 19 types of  
military-style assault weapons. It passed Congress as part of a 
comprehensive anti-crime bill in 1994, despite opposition from 
the powerful U.S. gun lobby. 
         ``It didn't take any guns away from anybody. It expressly  
protected hundreds and hundreds of sporting weapons ... it was 
passed because America's law enforcement officials asked for 
it,'' Clinton said. 
         Speaking at a meeting with independent insurance agents that  
focused on the unrelated issue of health care benefits, Clinton 
said it would be ``deeply wrong'' to repeal the ban ``and in 
essence to take the side of the Washington gun lobby over the 
interests of the law enforcement people in this country.'' 
         Attorney General Janet Reno also blasted efforts by  
congressional Republicans to repeal the ban on some 
semi-automatic, assault-style weapons. 
         ``The assault weapons ban has worked and it is  
unconscionable to think that special interest in Congress should 
or could roll it back now,'' she told reporters in reading a 
brief statement. 
         Her comment apparently referred to the National Rifle  
Association, which has been lobbying hard to get the 
Republican-led Congress to approve a bill repealing the ban on 
19 types of semi-automatic weapons in the 1994 crime bill. 
         ``This is a contest between the special interests and the  
public interest,'' Reno said, adding that the number of assault 
weapons traced to crime dropped 18 percent in just one year 
after the ban became law. 
         ``Assault weapons have become the weapons of choice for  
violent criminals, drug dealers, gangs and dangerous maniacs 
everywhere. They have no legitimate sporting purpose and you 
won't find them in a duck blind or at the Olympics,'' she said. 
         Reno said she would be calling members of Congress to seek  
their support, even though she will be traveling Thursday for a 
meeting on crime and drugs in Puerto Rico. 
         Reno said she wanted to speak out, even though the measure  
appears to have little chance of passage in the Senate. Asked if 
she thought she could prevail in the House, Reno replied, ``I 
never give up.'' 
         The House Rules Committee has scheduled a meeting on the  
bill Thursday, the last step before action by the full House, 
which could come as soon as Friday. 
--       
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