Frist Defends Refusal To Extend Weapons Ban [View All]

[Rose Siding]

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) yesterday defended Congress's refusal to extend the expiring federal ban on assault weapons as reflecting the "will of the American people," prompting a rebuttal from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chief sponsor of the 10-year-old ban.

"I think the will of the American people is consistent with letting it expire, so it will expire" at midnight Monday, Frist told reporters.

"That's baloney," said Feinstein when she was informed of Frist's comment. "The 'will of the American people' has been carefully evaluated by poll after poll that show two-thirds to three-fourths of the people support the ban."

The most recent national poll, conducted by the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey, found that 68 percent of Americans wanted to extend the ban, including 57 percent of those with a gun in their household.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6757-2004Sep8.html?nav=rss_politics