Statement by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein Urging Passage of Common-Sense Gun Laws
April 18, 2000
Today each of us is here to say to the Republican leadership – enough is enough. We have sent a letter to Majority Leader Lott asking for action, and we will do all we can to see that the Juvenile Justice conference meets, and that we can move forward on this bill.
The American people are behind us. They know that the four, common-sense gun provisions in this bill will make a difference:
• Closing the gun show loophole
• Trigger locks with every handgun
• Banning the importation of big clips
• And banning juvenile possession of assault weapons
It seems like we are in a stalemate over closing the gun show loophole. Specifically, the Republican leadership has implied that our bill requires a three-day wait for every gun buyer. This is simply not true. And the Republican leadership has demanded a 24-hour maximum wait. Well, for 95% of cases our bill would result in just that.
In fact, for 95% of the cases, our bill would allow gun buyers to leave with their gun within just 2 hours. A recent GAO study showed us a very clear picture of just what happens when a background check is run. According to the statistics in that report, under the Lautenberg bill:
• Out of all the people going to a gun show to buy a gun, more than 72% would get the gun immediately.
• Another 22% would walk out of the gun show with a gun within just two hours – many even sooner.
• That means that almost 95% of people going to a gun show to buy a gun will leave within two hours, gun in hand.
• For the remaining 5% of all transactions, the FBI needs more than 2 hours to make sure that the buyer is eligible to receive a gun.
This involves real investigation – looking at state records, double-checking information, correcting mistakes. And when I say that gun buyers must be “eligible” to own a gun, I mean that they must meet certain, common-sense qualifications found in the law:
• They have not been convicted of a felony
• They have not been adjudicated mentally defective
• They are not subject to certain restraining orders
• They have not been dishonorably discharged from the Armed forces
• They have not renounced their citizenship
• They have not been convicted of a domestic violence crime
• They are not addicted to illegal drugs
• They are not illegal aliens
So that is the difference between the proposals – under both proposals, 95% of gun buyers will walk out with a gun within 2 hours.
Under our proposal, however, there is more care taken in ensuring that felons, fugitives and stalkers do not get guns. According to the Administration, the remaining 5% of transactions account for 38% of the denials.
In fact, a prospective gun buyer falling within that last 5% is more than 20 times more likely to be denied a gun – and for good reason.
I’ve quoted a lot of numbers. But they all boil down to one simple fact. Under the Republican proposal, criminals can still get guns.
Last year, the Department of Justice looked at just a six-month period and found that if the Republican-proposed 24-hour maximum wait had been in effect, 17,000 more fugitives, felons, stalkers and others who were denied access to guns would have gotten them. That is not what I call closing a loophole.
Large Capacity Clips
And let me just say a few words about another proposal in the Juvenile Justice bill – my proposal to ban the importation of large capacity ammunition feeding devices.
That amendment passed the House by voice vote. It passed the Senate with 59 votes. But it, too, is stalled in conference.
The domestic manufacture of these big clips is already banned.
But they continue to flood into this country by the boatload.
In just one year, more than 11.4 million of these clips were approved for import. 35,000 of those clips held 250 rounds of ammunition.
All told, the 11.4 million clips accounted for more than 200 million rounds of ammunition. No hunter needs a 30, 40, 75, or 250-round clip.
These clips have but one purpose – to kill large numbers of people in a short amount of time.