by John Velleco

The cliffhanger 2000 election is finally over, but how did gun owners fare where the battle over gun rights is most fiercely fought -- in the U.S. House and Senate?

In the Senate, private gun ownership of firearms will be under attack as never before.

With the addition of Senator Hillary Clinton, who joins the notoriously anti-gun Sen. Chuck Schumer as the junior senator from New York, gun owners can expect to see a flurry of anti-gun bills introduced from the opening gate.

Together with Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), who has promised to reintroduce his draconian handgun registration bill, the trio will undoubtedly set the civilian disarmament agenda for the next several years.

Due to the complex rules of the Senate, one senator can bring the chamber to a halt in order to force votes on a specific agenda, something Sens. Clinton, Schumer and Reed will not hesitate to do.

With the Senate basically split down the middle, conservative pro-gun Republicans will be called upon to mount numerous filibusters to fight the anti-gun agenda.

Newly elected Sen. Hillary Clinton, with Sen. Charles Schumer, will immediately become an influential anti-gun leader.

An unusually large number of hotly contested senate races kept many gun owners on the edge of their seats on election night. Pro-gun Senate forces suffered a setback with the defeat of pro-gun Sen. Rod Grams (R-MN), but the election of Republican Sen. John Ensign in Nevada was a marginal gain. As a House member, Ensign was rated "B" by GOA's stringent rating system. One Senate victory for gun rights was the narrow reelection of pro-gun Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT).

The defeat of Sen. Spence Abraham (R-MI) could hardly been seen as a defeat for gun owners, given that his atrocious voting record on gun bills in the Senate.

In Florida, while many gun owners reportedly voted for Senate candidate Bill McCollum (R), Second Amendment supporters should not consider his defeat a loss for gun rights.

As a U.S. House member, McCollum was the leading Republican pushing for background checks, the federalization of gun crimes, increased government snooping without warrants, and many other forms of gun control.

It remains to be seen what effect the narrow defeat of "C-" rated John Ashcroft in Missouri to the deceased "F" rated Mel Carnahan will have for gun owners, assuming the Senate violates the Constitution and allows the election to stand even though the candidate was not an inhabitant of the state (Art. 1, Sec 3).

All in all, the Senate is in considerably worse shape for gun rights, in large part due to the election of the high profile First Lady.

Gun owners will have to keep an eye out for any signs of the Senate leadership moving to the distinctly anti-gun moderate middle.

Little Change in U.S. House

The greatest threat to the Second Amendment in this Congress will definitely be the push for "reasonable" gun control that can sway just enough pro-gun compromisers.

In the U.S. House, while Democrats picked up a few seats, there really was not much ideological change on gun rights.

For example, in the much-watched California district 27, "F" rated incumbent James Rogan was defeated by "F" rated Adam Schiff.

The pro-gun former Lieutenant Governor of Idaho, Butch Otter (R), replaced retiring pro-gun Rep. Helen Chenoweth (R).

In Oklahoma 2, while gun owners clearly suffered a setback with the retirement of strong Second Amendment supporter Rep. Tom Coburn (R), both candidates who sought to replace him were at least moderately pro-gun.

The same could be said of the two candidates in Michigan 8, in the race to replace now-Senator Debbie Stabenow. The Republican won that race, but both candidates had the support of gun owners in the district.

There are many other districts that will have a new face in Washington, but there is very little shift one way or the other in terms of gun rights.

More important for gun owners are the races in which there was no change.

Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), by far the strongest supporter of gun rights in the leadership, will remain as Majority Whip.

Pro-gun Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN) won reelection handily, in spite of the efforts of a well-financed, supposedly pro-gun candidate.

It is anticipated that Rep. Hostettler will pick up where he left off in his effort to dismantle the atrocious deal cut between Smith & Wesson and the Clinton Administration.

Pro-gun Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), sponsor of several pro-gun bills in the last Congress, also won reelection by a wide margin despite being high on the Democrat's target list.