GUN DEALERS' TAX AIMS AT WRONG TARGET

The Clinton Administration certainly is on a gun control mission and unfortunately continues to pull new, ill-conceived proposals out of the hat. The latest one is Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen's plan to jack up by another 300 percent the current licensing fee for authorized gun dealers. Raising this dealership fee of $200 for three years to $600 over the same time frame is nothing but an onerous and blatant tax.

The eventual effect of this proposal is off-sight because it will not stop gun dealers, inner-city gangs, or illegal gun dealers from trafficking and using firearms. All this proposal would do is put mom-and-pop gun dealers and small sporting shots -- like the ones you find in Puxico, Fredericktown, Eminence, Houston and other parts of Southern Missouri -- out of business.

Furthermore, the barely enacted Brady Law already includes a gun dealer licensing fee hike of 667 percent, from what was $30 for three years to the current $200 for three years. In other words, administration officials are so adamant on advancing gun control and eroding gun owner rights that they aren't even willing to wait to see the effects of new measures they helped put on the books.

I also noticed that Secretary Bentsen has ordered the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to begin analyzing gun trafficking patterns in 10 jurisdictions that account for 23 percent of the nation's felonies, such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Now this is the real issue -- cracking down on crime where it occurs -- not penalizing lawful gun owners and dealers.

I will continue my efforts in Congress to fight for our constitutional right to bear arms by opposing the dealership fee increase. As I have said before, if we are to take back our streets and reduce gun crimes, then we should go after the criminals who commit them with stiffer, mandatory penalties -- not new taxes or mandates on honest, law-abiding citizens.