Cliff Stearns: “On March 17, President Clinton announced that the firearms manufacturer, Smith and Wesson, had agreed to a certain…”

“On March 17, President Clinton announced that the firearms manufacturer, Smith and Wesson, had agreed to a certain number of gun safety proposals and the agreement reached, quote, ``an unprecedented partnership between the government and the gun industry,'' end quote. Partnership: now there is a very euphemistic term of what was accomplished. It obviously was high-handedness, to say the least. The Wall Street Journal ran an article on March 21 regarding this action by the administration. Here is a brief description of how the administration approached the CEO of Smith and Wesson, Ed Shultz. Quote, ``In late January two young Clinton administration lawyers flew to Nashville, Tennessee, where they handed Mr. Shultz, the chief executive officer of Smith and Wesson, a list of gun control demands. Agree to this, the government attorneys said, and the legal assault on the Nation's largest handgun manufacturer would be called off.'' Now, I am not sure exactly where this so-called partnership began, but such a story reeks of coercion. It reminds me of the old protection racket, pay up because you need my protection; otherwise, bad things can happen to you. Mr. Speaker, this action taken by the administration is a serious threat to our form of government. Our President should not attempt to change public policy by threatening a company with bankruptcy by way of lawsuits.”