National Alerts

Strange Things Happening On Capitol Hill

Written by Gun Owners of America Published: 14 April 2000

Strange Things Happening on Capitol Hill
— Weird coalition helps pass gun proposal by overwhelming numbers in House

“I would hope that we, Members of the House of Representatives, now knowing that the NRA and Handgun [Control], Inc., is supporting this motion to instruct that deals specifically with access to guns and keeping them away from children, can we not have a meeting of the minds…?”
— Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), 4/11/00

(Friday, April 14, 2000) — Rep. Jackson-Lee asked for a “meeting of the minds” (see above quote) and she got it. More than 400 Representatives voted on Tuesday to instruct House-Senate negotiators to bring the anti-gun juvenile bill out of conference committee.

If there is a silver lining to this dark cloud, it is the fact that the motion to instruct — offered by the notoriously anti-gun John Conyers (D-MI) — was non-binding. But it is a very thin silver lining at that.

The fact that so many “pro-gun” Congressmen crossed the line on Tuesday to support Conyers’ anti-gun proposal is a dreadful harbinger of things to come. The instructions ask the House-Senate conferees to produce a bill that contains the bulk of the gun restrictions that were in the original juvenile bill, as well as some Project Exile-type provisions.

The final vote was 406-22. Gun owners can see how their Representative voted by going to http://www.gunowners.org/cgv.htm and clicking on U.S. House of Representatives: 2000 (106-2). However, one can easily determine who voted wrong by viewing the list below. Those who are NOT listed below voted wrong and supported the anti-gun motion offered by Democrat John Conyers.

Who Voted Right?

These Representatives voted AGAINST Conyers’ anti-gun motion:

Barr (GA)             Mollohan (WV)
Chenoweth-Hage (ID)   Paul (TX)
Coburn (OK)           Peterson (MN)
DeMint (SC)           Pombo (CA)
Goode (VA)            Rahall (WV)
Hayworth (AZ)         Riley (AL)
Hill (MT)             Sanford (SC)
Hostettler (IN)       Souder (IN)
Jenkins (TN)          Stump (AZ)
Jones (NC)            Wamp (TN)
Metcalf (WA)          Young (AK)

Who Missed the Vote Entirely?

Bliley (VA)           McIntosh (IN)
Cook (UT)             Myrick (NC)
DeGette (CO)          Rodriguez (TX)
Hastert (IL)