Our goal is to limit access to firearms by children and criminals. Later in the day, House members also debated a measure to insist that the conference committee begin meeting daily until a final version of the juvenile justice bill with gun-control provisions is agreed upon. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., the lead sponsor of the effort, said it was important to express the will of the House to the conference. Although staffs for the House-Senate conference have been consulting with each other from time to time, the member lawmakers have met only once because of deep divisions over waiting periods for purchases at gun shows. But Hyde urged caution, claiming the conferees need time.
Compromise is difficult.
We have to make concessions, but concessions that are prudent, and that is true for both sides. Last spring, a contentious Senate passed a series of gun-control provisions only weeks after the massacre at a Colorado high school. With senators equally divided between support and opposition, Vice President Al Gore was called upon to cast the tie-breaking vote. A slightly different set of proposals died in the House, with some Republicans claiming they were too strong and some Democrats asserting that they were too weak. He said he would oppose efforts to eliminate gun shows or establish a national registry for firearms.