Alphecca

I was out of the office at a meeting. what did you ask and what was his answer?

I wanted him to confirm that the increased penalties for possession of "armor-piercing ammo" only applied to those who used it in commission of a crime, not those who had it at the range, so to speak.

Both of these amendments ought to be considered poison pills. We will find trigger locks to be mandatory in no time- removing guns from use as defensive household tools, and armor-piercing ammo will be expanded to include most pistol and all rifle cartriges.
Very dangerous stuff.

Absolutely... I mean, just how much longer would it have taken to have the house and senate meet together to hash out a final bill and have both vote on that? Would it have really made it that much longer? Even if it was only 2-3 more months, do we have something THAT pressing happening in the next 2-3 months? Some landmark gun case that we want to have thrown out? What? Haste makes waste.

Windaria,

Yes, it would have made the process that much more difficult. We have the votes to pass the bills, but the Ds have enough strength to make it difficult. Unless they get SOMETHING, they aren't going to let them go through. By doing this, we give them something without actually giving them anything, and pick up a ton of voters.

As far as the house passing a seperate bill, that would delay the process indefintly. There is simply no time on the calander for a conference to occur - especially one in which the Ds feel the Republicans screwed them again. End result, no bill for the president to sign for a long long time.

What is so importing? The first gun case is set to go to trial in Mid November and the DC Court of Appeals (DC, not Federal Circuit) has ruled that DCs firearms long arm statute is valid and reaches nationwide. unless they act soon, there will be HUGE verdicts in both DC and in the NY case and it will be that much more difficult for congress to correct.