Larry Craig: “I just want to bring to the attention of the Members of the Senate an article that appeared in the Washington Times this…”

“I just want to bring to the attention of the Members of the Senate an article that appeared in the Washington Times this morning. It is as a result of a memo to Attorney General Janet Reno from an Assistant Attorney General Walter Dellinger. It came on Saturday. The Washington Post covered it and the Washington Times covered it this morning. The memorandum explained that the Federal Government had no ability to enforce a background check requirement on the new Brady bill. Let me repeat that. It was a statement I had made on the floor during the heat of the debate on the Brady bill, that the Government had no authority to enforce it; that if State law enforcement officers chose not to use this law, that they could walk away from it. And that is exactly what is going on in the Justice Department today. What did our friends on the other side who were using the political placebo of the Brady bill tell us year after year? 'This is not a slippery slope toward gun control. It works because it requires law enforcement to do a background check on handgun purchases. It has teeth. It will stop crime.' Let me repeat, a memorandum from Assistant Attorney General Walter Dellinger to Janet Reno saying we have no authority, Mr. President, to enforce the Brady bill.”