Renew assault weapons ban

Time is running out for Congress to renew the national assault weapons ban. Beginning today, there will be only six legislative working days to act before the decade-old ban on the manufacture and transfer of military-style assault weapons like the AK-47, the Uzi and the Tec-9 pistol will expire. (Congress will take its six-week summer break between now and the ban's Sept. 14 expiration date.)\nSo, what's the hold up? Nothing but politics.\nPresident Bush is ominously silent on this issue. If fighting crime and terrorism are high priorities for him, he should be more vocal. When he campaigned in 2000, he showed support for renewing the ban. Today he says nonchalantly he would sign the measure if it somehow arrives on his desk, but the leaders in Congress say Bush isn't specifically asking for the renewal, so they see no reason to seek one.\nThe ban isn't perfect, but it has kept crime from getting worse. The ban applies to only 19 weapons by name, but copies of those are still out on the market. There has not been the Orwellian confiscation of all gun makes and models, as the National Rifle Association tried to foreshadow from the 1994 ban. Criminals may find the weapons elsewhere, some may contend, but that's clearly no reason to let the ban expire and allow them to be sold over the counter.\nThe assault weapons ban is a gravely different matter than bans against traditional hunting rifles and firearms for protection. Comparing the two categories is unfair and misleading. This is a matter whose ripples will certainly be felt inside urban and suburban locales, where citizens will not welcome the reintroduction of the typical weapons of choice for criminals. \nWith strong public support for the ban, we trust that many swing voters will recognize the obvious difference. The original ban had support of Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan and Clinton. It has an overwhelming support among law enforcement groups.\n"I'm sensitive to the right of people to own a weapon," said a supporter of the original measure, Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., quoted in The Washington Post. "You have the right to defend yourself, especially in times when law and order seems to be very much under siege. But the proliferation of weapons whose only purpose is to kill a lot of people in a hurry seems to me not to be justified."\nWe agree. We have yet to hear a compelling argument telling us how life would be better if anyone could buy an assault weapon at anytime. We implore someone of either party in our national leadership to shine their spotlight on this bill and bring it forward. True leadership means standing up against powerful special interests to ensure the public safety. If no one can stand up and defend the common-sense renewal of this ban, it will truly be a disgrace. \nThe IDS Editorial Board voted 11-0 on this issue.