Where I Stand -- Brian Greenspun: Americans win this tie

TIES GO to the winner. So who is the winner in the latest congressional follies over gun control legislation?

It appears that the American public may have finally won one against the powerful National Rifle Association and its allies in the U.S. Senate. Of course, it took a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Al Gore to make it happen after the Senate voted 50-50 on an amendment to require background checks at gun shows. That was only the sixth time in six years that Mr. Gore has been called to help the Senate legislate its way out of a sticky problem. And, lest you think gun control is not a problem -- politically, socially and every other way -- then think again because it will be one of the defining issues in the Y2K elections.

Writing about gun control in a state like Nevada is not unlike expressing opinions on the subject in a state like Colorado, for example. Both places are decidedly Western and both states are full of people who like their guns. They like to shoot them, clean them and show them off. Many people also like to make sure that others know they have them. That's OK because that, like it or not, is the American way. Especially anyplace west of the Pecos!

The problem occurs, of course, when places like Colorado are shaken to their foundations by tragedies like Columbine High School. Once children are killed by other children at places that should be safe havens then the emotions run high. And even places like Colorado begin to question the wisdom of unfettered gun ownership. So, like Colorado, we in Nevada should feel comfortable discussing gun control issues and we should be thankful that we haven't been victimized by a Columbine, yet.

Regardless, though, of the comfort level any of us may feel about this subject, the fact remains that we have to do something about this growing problem of kids killing kids, kids killing adults, adults killing kids, adults killing adults and every other variation on that theme. We live, quite frankly, in a very sick and dangerous society and so far we haven't come up with any workable solutions that will satisfy our need to protect our loved ones.

That's why the U.S. Senate must grapple with legislation dealing with these matters. And that is also why the NRA, which sees its mission to protect Americans and their right to bear arms, gets so excited. I would think that the only people who are happy about the NRA's front and center stage involvement in this matter are the folks from the tobacco industry. At least while guns are on the front burner, tobacco and its problems are relegated to the back of the stove and, more importantly, the back of the newspapers.

So let's look at what the legislation was that couldn't get more than 50 votes cast in its favor. Simply put, it was a law designed to require background checks on people who go to gun shows and pawnshops to buy their weapons. There has been a huge loophole in the system of background checks that has allowed anyone looking for a gun to pick one up at the thousands of gun shows around the country without so much as a "how do you do." If you want to buy a gun from a gun store, though, you must have the background check to make sure you aren't a felon or a mental patient or some other person for whom gun ownership might present a danger to society.

I don't know how many people have been stopped from purchasing weapons since the background checks became law but I know it is a significant number, all of which have decreased the potential for violence. The question, however, should be how many people have been allowed to circumvent the law by purchasing their weapons at unregulated gun shows and pawn shops. I don't know the exact numbers but I am certain it is more than anyone realizes.

Until Thursday, even with the public outcry rising to deafening levels, the NRA was able to hold its votes in the Senate, most, if not all of which were on the GOP side of the aisle. But, after the second school shooting in a month occurred in an Atlanta area high school, even some of the diehards had trouble ignoring the emotions of the day. My question has to be, "why not the others?"

For what possible intrusion on the Second Amendment can there be when we require background checks before people can buy guns? It is far more unreasonable to allow people with a predisposition toward violence or mental problems to acquire them at gun shows or from pawnshops who may then turn them on innocent people. That's the sensible argument. The emotional one comes in after a Columbine High School happens or when a Heritage High shooting occurs one month later. What is probably most troubling is that there wouldn't have been 50 votes in favor of closing the gun show loophole if those kids hadn't been shot the morning of the Senate vote.

That begs the next question. Do children have to continue to be shot and killed before responsible legislation makes its way through the Congress and the various state legislatures?

The good news is that Al Gore, who through his position as president of the Senate casts a tie-breaking vote, did so in favor of a sane approach to gun ownership. He could have kowtowed to the NRA like so many of the GOP lawmakers continue to do, especially when he is looking for presidential election votes in the gun-loving West. But he did what was right.

There is more disturbing news in addition to the 50 votes against background checks. And that is the comments from a fellow like Idaho Sen. Larry Craig -- incidentally, the same guy who is trying to dump the nation's nuclear waste in our backyard -- who sees this as a won and lost kind of game.

He was the guy pushing to kill the background check law in the Senate. When his efforts failed he said, "I haven't lost. It is not over yet." He sees our nation's trying to come to grips with national tragedies like Columbine as an ego battle. What a shame. He'd be far better off, as would his colleagues, if he thought a little more about the mothers and fathers of children lost to gun shots than he did about his benefactors in the NRA.

In the meantime, we should be thankful that Vice President Al Gore is willing to break ties in favor of the American people.

archive