President Bill Clinton accomplished what Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush never made an effort to do. That is a ban on assault type weapons. Reagan had no inclination to go up against the NRA and neither did his successor George H.W. Bush who kicked the can down the road to the Clinton administration.
But President Clinton picked up the challenge to pass the assault weapons ban that was in effect for 10 years and was a success. And for those years the ban was in effect no American was denied his right to bear arms for his own protection like the NRA and the gun lobby was promoting. Clinton stood tall in face of fierce opposition from the NRA, the gun lobby and the personal attacks from republicans and others. The President's leadership and action demonstrated his knowledge about the gun issue and awareness of his responsibility to keep our people safe.
Clinton also did his best to help America's cities stay safe when he had congress pass legislation to put 100,000 new police officers on the streets of America to help the cities who could not afford to do so. Many cities used those officers to help with community policing. The federal government paid the cost of those extra officers and Clinton still balanced the federal budget. President George W.Bush let both the assault weapons ban expire and did not renew the 100,000 police officers for the cities.
President Clinton had the courage and leadership to keep a domestic agenda for the citizens at the top of his priorities along with our national security He knew the country could accomplish both and he reduced the deficit that made way to balanced budgets. And as noted in other posts in PolitiDose, federal spending on Clinton's watch had the smallest percentage increase than any other administration in the past 50 years.
Understanding the past is still the key to a better future. But, unfortunately, today America has no leader in the White House and the President's latest budget for the country contains serious cuts to domestic spending including schools. And the republican party's position on gun control is to move slowly and not rush to judgement after the school shootings in Florida. Its as if the country has not been there before. What a shame our political leaders have forgotten the past.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
