Pause in the Shootout

By John F. Dickerson/Washington

Debates in Washington about gun violence have become as predictable as the school shootings that set them off. Democrats call for more gun-control legislation; Republicans rage against the Clinton Administration's allegedly poor enforcement of existing laws. Both sides accuse the other of trying to score political points. With each new round, the voices get shriller. Nothing gets done.

But last week even jaded watchers of Washington's spit-and-counterspit noticed that a dollop of peace was settling over the nation. New York Governor George Pataki, a Republican, announced a broad set of gun-control reforms that include a plan to identify guns easily by keeping a record of each weapon's unique characteristics. On Friday, Smith & Wesson, the largest U.S. gun manufacturer, agreed to provide safety locks with its handguns and make its guns child resistant within a year. "We can get so much done when we find the courage to find common ground," said a triumphant President Clinton.

There was a moment last week, though, when Washington seemed to be descending into an uglier version of its usual gun-control warfare. Wayne LaPierre, the N.R.A's executive vice president, tore into Clinton by charging that he is "willing to accept a certain level of killing to further his political agenda." If that weren't inflammatory enough, LaPierre drove home his point in a separate interview by accusing the President of having "blood on his hands" for the death of a former Northwestern University basketball coach whose murderer slipped through existing gun-control laws. In the background of this bitter debate played a barrage of television ads in which N.R.A president Charlton Heston, in his full Moses voice, called the President a liar for distorting the N.R.A's position.

Al Gore couldn't wait to tie George W. Bush to the N.R.A's intemperate remarks, but oddly enough, LaPierre may have done Bush a favor with his nasty thrusts toward the President: the presumptive Republican nominee suddenly had a chance to look moderate. "There are ways to debate the issue without casting aspersions on the President like that," Bush said. "I just think they've gone too far." The high-profile break echoed his father's termination of his N.R.A membership over a fund-raising letter that labeled gun-enforcement officials "jack-booted thugs." The Governor will probably deflect Gore's attacks by pointing to several laws he passed that aim to curb gun violence in schools by punishing those who sell guns to minors, increasing penalties for juveniles caught with a gun and penalizing parents if negligence leads to their gun being used by a juvenile in a crime.

But Bush's Texas record may bedevil him as he tries to reach for moderates and independents who approve of some gun control. In 1995 he touted the signing of a law that allowed Texans to carry concealed handguns. That Bush welcomed top N.R.A officials to the signing ceremony will not escape Democratic operatives, nor will stories of guns in Texas churches and metal detectors installed in amusement parks under Bush's tenure. Bush also made it harder for localities to sue gun manufacturers. He said the measure curbed frivolous lawsuits. Opponents called it the "N.R.A protection act" and noted that Colorado's Republican Governor Bill Owens shelved a similar bill after the Columbine tragedy.

Bush's moves to the middle have seemed wobbly. He has said he would sign a bill that mandates safety locks but would not push for one. He supports imposing background checks on weapons sold at gun shows but ducks the contentious issue of how long such checks should take. He says he likes Pataki's proposals to ban assault weapons and track new guns by their ballistic fingerprints, but he has not rushed to give the package his full support.

Congress is also not in a hurry to reconcile the House and Senate versions of last year's gun provisions in the juvenile-justice crime bill. Both parties have internal divisions on the gun issue. There are plenty of pro-N.R.A Democrats, mostly from Southern states, and gun-controlling Republicans in Northern pockets. Even G.O.P. House leaders are split. Speaker Dennis Hastert and Conference Chair J.C. Watts favor movement toward reform, while majority whip Tom DeLay and majority leader Dick Armey stay hostile to any such legislation. Some Democrats may want the gun-control issue more than they want a legislative solution.

While the posturing looks familiar, the Smith & Wesson settlement may make it a thing of the past. Rival gunmakers railed at their competitor's apostasy, but so did tobacco companies at the start of their capitulation. Under pressure from cities and the Federal Government, manufacturers may have to offer their own safety measures. If that happens, the capital Kabuki rituals will become more irrelevant than ever.