WASHINGTON - A few nights before the House of Representatives was to vote on tougher gun control legislation, one of the many TV channels aired a news clip of a gun fair, including live firing on a weapons range by potential buyers.
One of the shooters was a small boy, no
more than 8 or 9, who hefted a semi-automatic shotgun almost as tall as himself.
While his grinning father and other adults looked on, the youngster rested the barrel on a guard rail and fired. The gun bucked in his loose grip and the recoil was such that it knocked him backwards and he sat down with a thump while everybody rolled about slapping themselves and guffawing.
The boy was nearly in tears at being made to look so foolish. It was lucky he didn't blow someone's head off.
In the United States, every single day on average, 13 children under the age of 15 are killed in shooting accidents or incidents like the Columbine School massacre in Denver in May.
The television item was meant to jolt politicians who were debating a wide-ranging package of legislation to boost gun safety, toughen penalties against juveniles using weapons in crimes and clamp down on the entertainment industry for peddling violence.
But despite the statistics, a peculiar alliance of Democrats, moderate Republicans and arch conservatives rejected the legislation.
The Democrats and their handful of allies voted "no" because, they argued, the package had been so weakened as to be meaningless by the Republican majority. The conservatives who sided with them voted "no" because they are opposed to all controls.
The irony of the standoff in Congress over gun control is that the House of Representatives watered down a Senate bill with a series of amendments, including one making it easier for people to buy firearms at gunshows like that shown on TV with the youngster shooting.
This was defeated only after President Clinton let it be known he would veto such legislation.
