Instead of working to encourage his anti-gun followers in the House to support the "Project Exile" prosecution model, a proven crime-fighting tool, Clinton was basking in the media spotlight in Maryland, watching Gov. Parris Glendening (D) sign into law a confusing "gun control" package that, in part, mandates gun locks but totally ignores the criminal misuse of firearms. The following day found the President in Denver continuing his campaign to politicize last year's tragedy at Columbine High as he promoted an anti-gun ballot initiative campaign spearheaded by a local anti-gun organization. And while Clinton continues to object to the charge that he uses tragedies for political advantage, he was quoted in the Rocky Mountain News on Wednesday as stating, "Our cause has been aided by the deaths of all these children in all these schools, and in other settings." Now it would appear that Clinton's anti-gun political posturing has taken complete control of the legislative process at the federal level, especially when it comes to the "Juvenile Justice" bill currently stalled in the House-Senate conference committee. Ranking House Democrat committee member John Conyers flatly rejected a compromise proposal offered by House Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) even though it closely resembled what Clinton has been demanding. And now anti-gun extremists in the U.S. Senate, including Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), have delivered a letter to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) that threatens to hold up unrelated legislation in the Senate through "procedural and parliamentary" maneuvers if their anti-gun demands are not met. Lautenberg, of course, is the author of the language attached to the Senate's version of juvenile justice reform that would end gun shows as we know them today. The actions by Clinton and his anti-gun followers in Congress continue to indicate a preference for political grandstanding over effective crime fighting.
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