Asked her position on gun control during Nevada's 1998 congressional campaign, Democrat Shelley Berkley, a native of New York, wrote: "I'm a strong believer in the Second Amendment. There's no need for more gun control, but I favor gun safety education."
During this year's House debate on the so-called Juvenile Justice bill, the nation's congressmen -- including now-freshman Rep. Berkley of Nevada -- voted on 11 separate amendments which would require, among other stuff:
-- background checks (and thus, federal registration) on firearms transfers between private parties at gun shows;
-- trigger locks to be sold with each handgun;
-- background checks on firearms reclaimed by their owners after being pawned for more than a year;
-- repealing the ban on private ownerships of handguns in the District of Columbia;
-- banning firearm ownership for life for individuals convicted of certain juvenile crimes;
-- banning the further importation of magazines of more than 10 rounds capacity (such as those used by the Las Vegas Metro Police Department).
Former NRA board member Neal Knox, now organizer of the Firearms Coalition in Manassas, Va., tallied the congressional votes on the 11 amendments for the Aug. 11 edition of his "Hard Corps Report," characterizing each congressperson's 11 votes as "pro-gun," or "anti-gun."
(In the end, Mr. Knox reported "It was bizarre to see House anti-gunners cheering and giving each other 'high-fives' after the defeat of their pet bills." But these statists, who scheme endlessly to make it harder for a potential rape victim to legally carry an adequate handgun in her purse, and who endlessly accuse those who would enforce the Bill of Rights as written of "refusing to compromise," decided it was better to temporarily kill their own bill than to allow it to go forward with a provision which would have waived a gun-show background check if it couldn't be completed in 24 hours -- thus allowing the two-day gun shows to survive.)
From Nevada, by Mr. Knox's nationally-circulated tally, Republican Rep. Jim Gibbons scored 10 "pro-gun" votes, and one "anti-gun" vote -- a slightly better record on guns that Helen Chenoweth of Idaho or Dick Armey of Texas.
But the record of Nevada's second congresscritter, Ms. Berkley, was just the opposite: She cast one "pro-gun" vote, and 10 "anti-gun."
That means Ms. Berkley's vote tally on this issue was precisely identical to that of liberal Democrat Richard Gephardt of Missouri, identical to that of liberal Democrat Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, and identical to that of former Burlington Socialist Mayor Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Ms. Berkley voted in precisely the same fashion as Democratic representatives Olver, Neal, McGovern, Meehan, Markey, Moakley, Delahunt, and Barnie Frank of Massachusetts. Her votes on this issue precisely mirrored those of Democrat Patrick J. Kennedy of Rhode Island and Democrat Charles Rangel of New York.
What about Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy of Long Island, sharp observers might ask? Didn't Ms. Berkley's votes track precisely with those of Rep. McCarthy, who was elected to Congress on a "gun control" platform after her husband and son were shot and killed by a crazed Jamaican immigrant on the Long Island Railroad, where they were prohibited by law from carrying precisely the kind of firearms they might have used to defend themselves?
No. Ms. Berkley's votes do not track precisely with Rep. McCarthy's.
If Nevadans seeking to retain their Second Amendment rights were instead represented in Washington by sworn firearm opponent Ms. McCarthy, they would be better off. Ms. McCarthy cast only nine "anti-gun" votes, according to Neal Knox, and two "pro-gun" votes -- twice as many as Shelley Berkley, Nevada's "strong believer in the Second Amendment."
Contacted for a response, Richard Urey, Rep. Berkley's chief of staff, told me: "I won't address Mr. Knox's editorial conclusions but I certainly will say that Congresswoman Berkley has not and will not vote for any law which takes a gun away from any law-abiding citizen or prevents a law-abiding citizen from buying a gun. She has voted for safety measures, and for measures that deal with keeping guns out of the hands of known criminals."
In a month when, already, absurd municipal liability suits have provided an excuse for the foreign owner of Colt firearms to announce that Col. Colt's historic firm will end its 150-year tradition of selling modern handguns to American civilians, and UPS has cited a similar excuse for quadrupling the cost of handling gun shipments (with other shippers quickly jumping on board -- a crippling expense to many smaller gun stores), I sure feel safer knowing a true Second Amendment champion like Rep. Shelley Berkley is out there fighting for my "safety" ... don't you?
Vin Suprynowicz is assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. His new book, "Send in the Waco Killers" is available at $24.95 through Mountain Media, P.O. Box 271122, Las Vegas, Nev. 89127, or at 1-800-244-2224.
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Vin Suprynowicz, vin@lvrj.com
"The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it." -- John Hay, 1872
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed -- and thus clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." -- H.L. Mencken
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