Senator Schumer on the Gun Debate

LINDA DOUGLASS, ABC NEWS

(Voice Over) The assault weapon ban was put in place a decade ago by a series of crimes, 34 children mown down in a California schoolyard, 14 workers shot in a killing spree in a San Francisco high-rise, 23 New York train riders picked off by a gunman with a semi-automatic pistol. The National Rifle Association has put enormous pressure on Congress to let the assault weapon ban expire next year.

GROVER NORQUIST,

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS

To this piece of legislation is a dead man walking. It's finished. It's history. It's not going anywhere.

LINDA DOUGLASS

(Voice Over) When the NRA speaks, Congress usually listens.

SENATOR CHARLES SCHUMER, DEMOCRAT, NEW YORK

It's classic special-interest politics. You have a small, narrow group, led by the NRA, who's strongly against it. But the vast majority of Americans, as every poll shows, is for it.

LINDA DOUGLASS

(Off Camera) Yet, many Democrats may simply look the other way while Republicans let the gun ban expire next year. That's because some Democrats up for reelection fear the power of the NRA.

JIM DUFFY, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT

There are gonna be a lot of Democrats who are just as happy they don't have to vote on this issue.

LINDA DOUGLASS

(Voice Over) President Bush says he supports the gun ban, but Republican sources say the White House has made it clear that Mr. Bush will not push Congress to pass it. Linda Douglass, ABC News, Capitol Hill.