The Clinton Administration has been four square pro gun control. Indeed, he has declared his support for a major crime bill based on the premise that “the first duty of any government is to try to keep its citizens safe, but clearly too many Americans are not safe today.” Clinton’s plan was formally introduced in 1993, after Congress had reconvened after its summer recess. Clinton’s proposal calls for spending $3.4 billiondollars for50,000 new police officers, a “major down payment,” according to Clinton, on his campaign promise for 100,000 new cops. A centerpiece of the plan is the Brady Bill, which (at that time mandated a five working day waiting period for gun purchases). Other provisions would send young offenders to military style boot camps instead of prison. Clinton would limit the ability of those convicted of capital crimes to file “Habeas Corpus” appeals endlessly through the Federal Courts, and at the same time, expand to 47thenumber of crimes subject to the death penalty. Clinton also moved by Executive Order to ban the import of assault pistols like the Israeli made Uzi and tighten up the licensing rules for gun dealers to make it harder for people to run gun shops out of hotel rooms or the trunks of their cars. Under his new rules, anyone applying for a permit to sell weapons will be fingerprinted and subject to a background check. After a summer of fighting partisan attempts to label him a “tax and spend liberal,” Clinton’s sprawling crime package should provide some much needed political relief. In order to pass his legislation, he had to hold together a fragile alliance of liberals and conservatives. George Bush sponsored a package that was similar in many ways to Clinton’s, only to see it die in the Senate. In order to forestall such failure, Clinton’s bill depended largely on a clever bit of horse-trading. The idea was that liberals, eag...
