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The real story on how it came into law . . .
Senator Bob Dole
On passing the Brady bill:
* On November 23, 1993, the Brady bill was considered dead for the year, having been successfully killed by a bipartisan filibuster.
On November 24, Bob Dole agreed to stop the filibuster and to let the Brady bill pass. This agreement was reached when there were only three senators on the floor -- everyone else was home for Thanksgiving. Just one of the senators on the floor -- Bob Dole being among them -- could have objected to the agreement and thereby prevented the bill's passage. Bob Dole did not object. The Brady bill passed. (Source: Congressional Record, November 24, 1993, pp. S 17090-91.)
* Here's what Sen. Dole had to say about his actions:
I know the Gun Owners of America, another group, have a little different view. They are blaming me for the Brady bill that passed because I sat there with the majority leader and everybody else had gone home, and we made an arrangement. We let that bill pass. I was picketed, and they called me a traitor, and everything else . . . because that happened. (Source: Congressional Record, August 23, 1994, p. S 12363.)
On compromise and banning guns:
* On November 19, 1993, Bob Dole voted for the crime bill -- a bill which also contained the Feinstein gun ban on more than 180 firearms. Moreover, less than two weeks earlier Dole had brokered an agreement which prevented a filibuster on the Feinstein amendment from ever taking place. (Source: Congressional Record, November 10, 1993, p. S15584-5.)
* In January, 1994, Bob Dole urged the President -- on nationwide T.V. -- to support the Senate version of the crime bill that contained the Feinstein gun ban. (Source: Dole's rebuttal to Clinton's State of the Union Address, reprinted in the The Washington Post, 1/26/94.)
On contradictory remarks:
* In March of 1995, Sen. Dole stated that the repeal of the semi-auto ban "is one of my legislative priorities. The Senate will debate this issue in the near future, and I hope to have a bill on President Clinton's desk by this summer" (Sen. Bob Dole to Tanya Metaksa of the NRA, 3/10/95).
* In May of 1995, Sen. Dole asked for a "unanimous consent" agreement that kept the gun ban repeal from being voted on. Dole said, "I further ask unanimous consent that no assault weapons amendments be in order to the terrorism bill . . . " (Congressional Record, 5/26/95, p. S 7610). Per Dole's solicitation, the official Senate calendar for the first day of debate on the terror package clearly stated that, "No assault weapon amendments [shall] be in order to S. 735."
On gun sweeps and amnesties:
* In February of 1994, Dole introduced S. 1815, a bill requiring the government to pay people to turn in their guns.
* Dole also introduced a resolution supporting President Clinton's position on the Chicago gun sweeps (Source: The Washington Times, 4/22/94). The Clinton administration has favored allowing cops to sweep through Chicago's apartment buildings -- without warrants -- to search for guns. Bob Dole supported these efforts.
On support for the BATF
* On June 7, 1995, Dole voted for the terror package (S. 735) which contained a provision to increase the BATF budget by $100 million. (This bill also contained provisions to expand the ability of the military to enforce civilian law and to allow the government to wiretap one's home if a person subject to a wiretap order visits the home.)
