More on Senator Biden's Support For Gun Control

As promised, here is more on Senator Biden's support for gun control. Senator Biden has a long anti-gun record. Beginning in the late 1980s, he voted against the NRA position on most issues. He received an "F" rating from the NRA in 2002.

Sen. Biden was the lead sponsor of the Senate crime bill in the 103rd Congress (S. 1607), to which the Clinton Gun Ban amendment was attached. (The crime bill that eventually passed was the House version, but it still included the gun ban.)

Biden voted for the ban on a stand-alone vote in 1993 ( Feinstein amendment, vote no. 375, 11/17/93) and voted to extend the ban in 2004 as an amendment to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (vote no. 24, 3/2/2004), and included a renewal of the ban in his crime bill last year along with gun show restrictions (S. 2237, title VI).

In the 101st Congress, 1990, Biden introduced two crime bills, S. 1970 and S. 1972. S. 1970 proposed banning the AR-15 and similar semi-automatic firearms, and provided that the Treasury Secretary and Attorney General could recommend to Congress any other firearms (regardless of type) to be designated as "additional assault weapons."S. 1972 proposed banning the purchase of the same guns unless the seller and buyer fill out and maintain copies of a 4473 or equivalent document, essentially just requiring private sellers to maintain records.

Biden reiterated his support for the ban (in fact, took credit for authoring it) in response to a question at the the CNN/YouTube debate this year (referenced in Saturday's post). He also campaigned on the issue, and used the other side's usual talking points in his campaign ads and letters to constituents in the '90s. Even before the Feinstein amendment, Biden introduced crime bills that contained semi-auto bans (see bottom).

Hat tip to my friends over at the Yahoo Gun Issues group.