Beltway punts on gun ban

Barring a sudden shift in the political winds, the 10-year-old federal ban on assault weapons will expire today at midnight.

President Bush has said he would sign legislation to extend the ban if Congress brought it to him, but he's not leading out on the issue. Congressional leaders say there's no political will to extend the act, which prohibits the sale of 19 specific weapons that have the features of guns used by the military, and also outlaws magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. As Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., told the New York Times, "I think the will of the American people is consistent with letting it expire, so it will expire."

A new poll of nearly 5,000 Americans conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania found that 68 percent of Americans support renewing the ban. Other polls, albeit smaller samples conducted for special-interest groups, say the number is closer to 80 percent. Among respondents to the Annenberg Center poll who identified themselves as members of the National Rifle Association, 32 percent said they favored extending the ban.

Of course, public policy should not be solely driven by public opinion polls. The people who are most Americans' first line of defense — police officers — last week made an impassioned plea to members of Congress to continue the ban. Police do not want assault rifles on the street because it permits the bad guys to be better armed than the public servants charged to serve and protect their respective communities.

As the nation spends unprecedented resources on homeland defense, what sense does it make to remove a ban on weapons that are neither instruments of hunting or sport? Do these weapons have any place in civilized society?

Some press reports suggest that new models of assault weapons that will likely be available tomorrow are more efficient and less expensive than the assault weapons sold before the ban was instituted. The Washington Post has reported that gunmaker Beretta will encourage sales by offering customers two free 15-round magazines with the purchase of two of its weapons. The assault rifle ban has restricted magazine capacity to 10 rounds.

Unfortunately, the ban on assault rifles has become a victim of election-year politics. Members of Congress who are in close races and would ordinarily support the gun ban don't want to provoke the NRA because they fear their re-election campaigns will be targeted. NRA officials dispute those notions.

It is true that anyone who purchases an assault weapon from a licensed gun dealer will have to undergo a background check. Lifting the ban does not mean there will be unbridled access to these guns. But the open sales of these weapons will make them more readily available in secondary markets where guns are sold privately by individuals, sans background checks.

When the nation's police implore members of Congress to help keep a lid on the proliferation of these weapons, they ought to heed their counsel. Instead, Congress will allow this law to sunset rather than stare down the NRA in an election year. What an insult to first responders who have an already overwhelming job of keeping Americans safe.