U.S. gun debate involves lawmakers and moms

By Joanne Kenen

WASHINGTON (Reuters): When President Bill Clinton proposed national licensing for gun owners in his State of the Union Address, his critics' response could be summed up as: "Bang, bang, it's dead."

"Congress is not going to deal with that," confidently predicted Republican Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho, one of the staunchest foes of gun control in Congress.

But if licensing, a radical departure by traditional U.S. gun law standards, has almost no chance of passage in Congress this year, that does not mean the post-Columbine debate over the proper degree of gun regulation is over. Far from it.

Guns are already a theme in the 2000 presidential election and will play out in many congressional skirmishes. Grassroots groups on both sides are energized in this election year, and there are even plans for rival Mother's Day demonstrations in Washington and other cities nationwide.

The "Million Mom March" will demand tougher gun laws, while the "Second Amendment Sisters" is planning an "Armed Informed Mothers" march to push Congress to keep its hands off.

"There's not going to be any vacation on this issue between now and November," said James Baker, chief lobbyist for the National Rifle Association.

Since the killings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, last year, followed by a spate of violence at schools, offices and churches, Clinton has pushed a gun control agenda including background checks at gun shows and child safety locks. But he upped the ante in his State of the Union speech with his call for licensing for gun owners.

Vice President Al Gore, campaigning to succeed Clinton and keep the White House Democratic, has called for licensing and some of Clinton's critics think he was interested less in a legislative proposal than a political bouquet for Gore.

Other opponents see it as a bid by Clinton to shift the boundaries of the gun debate, pushing to the left any midpoint for an eventual compromise.

"It is so extreme and so volatile politically and it has so little chance," said the NRA's Baker. "They hope we focus on something that is not a threat legislatively."

Congress started this year as it ended last year -- at loggerheads over gun show background checks. Prospects for major legislation are not good before the 2000 elections, but Congress is likely to skirmish pretty constantly over many other gun- related issues that may crop up in anything from education reform bills to this year's budget wars.

For instance, Michigan Democratic Sen. Carl Levin this week tried to attach an amendment to a bankruptcy bill that would have prevented gun makers from declaring bankruptcy to evade personal wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits. It was defeated, 68- 29, with several Democrats voting against it.

Frustrated by the glacial pace in Congress, grass-roots anti- gun groups have geared up to make their voices heard in next year's elections -- although they tend to be smaller, poorer and less well-organized than the National Rifle Association, one of the most effective lobbies in Washington with a membership at a record 3.1 million.

One of the anti-gun groups, the "Million Mom March," began organizing in September for a Mother's Day march. Their goal is to get 50,000 moms to Washington and hundreds of thousands more at marches in towns and cities across the country.

"I get letters from mothers who say I can't get there but I'll do something in my own town. And I get letters from mothers who have lost their own children because of guns and they say I'm going to get to Washington even if I have to walk," said Donna Thomases, the New Jersey mother who is organizing the Million Mom effort.

The group is loosely organized and does not have an NRA-type bankroll, but it has received backing from the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the League of Women Voters, the National PTA and established anti-gun groups.

The "Second Amendment Sisters" are also a new group and so far they are not well known. Even some people at the NRA have not heard of them.

Kim Watson, an "SAS" co-founder in Florida, said she keeps reading about opinion polls that supposedly show Americans support gun control, but that is not what she sees among her own friends, family and co-workers.

"A lot of the media portray women very pro-gun control but we're not quite so knee-jerk as the media makes us out," said Watson, who along with her gun-collecting husband started teaching her son to handle a weapon safely when he was 4.

"I want to retain my Second Amendment rights to protect my children, with the same passion as the other women" feel about gun control, she said. "We want Congress to hear the voice of the people."