Gun control legislation has been a source of constant contention between liberals and conservatives in the Capitol for decades, and the political battles that surround trigger locks and other methods of gun control are nowhere near an end.
Almost every American is familiar with the gruesome images splashed on the network news; images of Columbine, of Jonesboro, of drive-by shootings. Perhaps even more unsettling is the age of not only many of the victims of gun violence, but the perpetrators.
American children are more at risk from firearms than the children of any other industrialized nation. In one year, firearms killed no children in Japan, 19 in Great Britain, 57 in Germany, and 5,285 in the United States.
As the rate of gun violence has increased over the past fifteen years, so has the toll on America's children. Within five years, firearms are expected to overtake motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of death among American children.
Proponents are fueled by such images of children and violence, while the opposition, buttressed by the Second Amendment of the Constitution, which reads "a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
Although a number of gun laws exist currently, the debate rages on, further exacerbating the tension between the camps, and emphasizing different interpretations of Constitutional rights.
The nation's primary gun law is the 1968 Gun Control Act, passed in the wake of the murders of Sen. Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The law prohibits certain people from possessing guns, including felons, minors, illegal drug users and illegal aliens.
It also establishes licensees and set standards for gun dealers, prohibits both the mail-order and interstate sale of firearms, notes that handgun purchasers must be at least 21 and long gun purchasers must be at least 18.
The other major gun legislation -- the Brady Law -- went into effect in Feb. 1994, on the heels of substantial controversy.
The law establishes a national five business day waiting period and requires the local law enforcement to conduct background checks on handgun purchasers.
The only exception to the waiting period is in the case of an individual needing to procure a handgun in response to a threat to his/her life.
Gun dealers must also notify law enforcement officials as to multiple sales of pistols or revolvers to any unlicensed person in any five consecutive business days.
In addition, each state has different laws governing the transfer and possession of guns in certain cases.
New Hampshire has no purchase limitations, and purchasers do not need a permit to acquire a firearm.
Yet gun control proponents hope that a new New Hampshire law which took effect in December, may help to set a national precedent.
According to the new legislation, leaving a loaded gun accessible to a child is punishable by a $1,000 fine.
For the law to apply, the gun would have to be loaded and the child would have to be under 16, and use the gun recklessly to threaten someone, or fire it negligently.
The law was however, still subject to the same debate as most national gun legislation; while supporters called it pro-child, not anti-gun, opponents claim that it impinges on their constitutional right to bear arms.
In addition, in New Hampshire private sales do not require a background check and are not regulated in any manner.
New Hampshire's status as a "shall-issue" state -- all non-felons have a right to carry concealed weapons without showing need, provided they have a license -- has also been the subject of recent controversy.
This summer, a Milford Police Chief issued a permit to a 16-year-old, and in doing so became the subject of not only state-wide, but national attention.
Police Chief Douglas claims he was opposed to it at the time, but was forced to issue the permit under state law, which does not establish age restrictions when it comes to seeking a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
Under New Hampshire law, juveniles are allowed to use a handgun for hunting, target practice, ranching, farming or when taking a handgun course, thus also allowing a juvenile to obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
"What I'd like to see is that the state law become consistent with the federal law, which would limit the age to 18," Douglas told the Boston Globe in October.
The ability of states to regulate specific aspects of gun control is a problem for gun control advocates, and the tension between individual state's rights and federal control -- a traditional conflict between Republicans and Democrats -- also plays heavily into the gun control conflict.
And given additional traditional party stances on gun control, the future of the issue under a Republican administration is alarming activists.
Many proponents are particularly disturbed by the appointment of former Missouri Sen. John Ashcroft as Attorney General.
Ashcroft voted in the last Congress to weaken gun control, and opposes the federal assault weapons ban.
In addition, the National Rifle Association -- a right-wing group heavily opposed to gun control -- spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in independent expenditures on Ashcroft's failed Senate re-election bid.
"During the 2000 elections, the National Rifle Association claimed that if George W. Bush won the presidency, the NRA would be working out of his office. Now they've gone one better. If John Ashcroft becomes attorney general, the NRA will be running the Justice Department," said the Violence Policy Center's Public Policy Director Joe Sudbay in the organization's recent press release.
However, "the NRA felt very comfortable with Bush, so its not necessarily a question of who the attorney general is now, but that the NRA's candidate is in the White House," said Philip J. Cook, an ITT/Terry Stanford Distinguished Professor of Public Policy Studies.
Yet, Bush claimed during his campaign that, like Gore, he would support the current ban on assault rifles, raise the minimum age for handgun possession to 21 and require that trigger locks be sold with handguns.
Unlike Gore, however, Bush feels that the best gun control is better law enforcement; his mantra during the 2000 campaign debates on the issue called for "better enforcement of existing laws, not new gun regulations."
But as governor of Texas, Bush's gun enforcement record does not encourage gun control proponents.
Convicted criminals, including felons, were granted licenses to carry concealed handguns, gun laws signed by Bush are not enforced and his administration failed to prosecute several hundred felons known by the state to illegally possess firearms. Officials also failed to enforce laws prohibiting domestic violence offenders from possessing firearms.
Yet "the Clinton administration insisted that the Justice Department give higher priority to gun cases. Bush's rhetoric makes me think that that will continue," Cook said.
"Bush's record in Texas reflected the power of the gun rights people there. My hope is that as Governor Bush becoming President Bush, he will pay more attention to the traditional role of federal government, and stop interstate gun running and enforce the ban on felons being in possession of guns," Cook continued.
"There is a chance that as president, Bush will recognize this new opportunity."
