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Clinton vows to veto juvenile crime bill if gun provisions dropped

March 20, 2000
Web posted at: 7:11 p.m. EST (0011 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bill Clinton vowed Monday that he would not sign the juvenile justice legislation currently pending in Congress if it does not contain key gun safety provisions, according to a letter the president quickly fired off to Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) in response to comments the Utah senator made earlier in the day.

"I am troubled by your recent comments that you are considering stripping the Senate-passed common sense gun provisions out of the final conference report. Legislation intended to address the problem of youth violence simply cannot ignore the most devastating problem facing our youth -- gun violence," Clinton wrote.

The president has been pressuring lawmakers to pass "common sense gun control" before April 20, the one-year anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings in Colorado.

Hatch said Monday that the legislation might be more successful in conference committee if the gun initiatives were stripped off and debated as a separate bill.

"I'm seriously considering stripping all the gun matters out and passing the bill, which is 99 percent not about guns, 99 percent to help alleviate problem of violent juvenile criminal activity in our society," said Hatch, who also heads the House-Senate conference committee responsible for hashing out a compromise on the juvenile justice bill.

The president's supports a version of the legislation that includes provisions that would require child safety locks on new handguns, a ban on the import of large-capacity ammunition clips, and mandatory background checks taking up to 72 hours for purchases made at gun shows

House and Senate conferees have met only once to hammer out differences between bills each body passed last year.

The Senate bill contains language more acceptable to Democrats in Congress, including the mandatory 72-hour waiting period for firearm purchases at gun shows. The House version mandates a 24-hour waiting period, which most Republicans say is the maximum they can require without hurting gun dealers who sell at those shows.

The letter follows a remarkable week in which Democrats have pushed hard on the issue of gun safety, and the National Rifle Association has tried to portray the Clinton Administration as lax in enforcing existing gun laws in a series of increasingly personal and bitter attacks by the group.

And in a landmark agreement announced last Friday, Smith & Wesson, the nation's largest gun manufacturer, agreed to a legal settlement in which the company will make several changes in its gun marketing, manufacturing and design practices.

Smith & Wesson agreed to include child safety locks, ensure background checks both at retail stores and gun shows and take so-called ballistic fingerprints of its guns, among other provisions.

In exchange, state and local governments will drop pending lawsuits against the company, and the federal government will not file suit, as it had said it would in December 1999 unless a settlement could be reached.

On Monday, gun manufacturer Glock Inc. said that it might follow similar action later this week.

 
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