GOP LEADERS RENEW BID TO REPEAL ASSAULT-GUN BAN.

Byline: Jerry Gray The New York Times

In a move that Democrats denounced as a bow to the gun lobby, Republican leaders in the House of Representatives revived an effort Wednesday to repeal a two-year-old federal ban on certain assault-style weapons.

Bypassing committee hearings, the Republican majority leader, Rep. Dick Armey of Texas, announced that he would use an expedited procedure to bring the legislation before the Rules Committee today and to the floor for a vote Friday.

The vote would fulfill a campaign promise that House Speaker Newt Gingrich made to the National Rifle Association to try to overturn the 1994 law that banned the manufacture, sale and possession of 19 semiautomatic weapons, including Uzis or AK-47s.

Sen. Bob Dole, the Senate majority leader and presumed Republican presidential nominee, also promised last year to schedule a vote on the ban, unpopular among many conservative voters. But Dole has said more recently that a vote is unlikely to occur soon on the Senate floor, and he did not comment Wednesday on the House decision to forge ahead.

President Clinton supports the ban, so any effort to overturn it in the Senate would elevate the debate into a major issue in the presidential campaign.

The decision to bring the issue to the floor quickly brought gales of criticism Wednesday from Democrats in the House and threats of a filibuster from Democrats in the Senate.

"It would be murderously irresponsible for the Republicans to repeal the assault weapons ban," said Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.

Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., one of the chief authors of the 1994 gun ban, called the Republican move "a sneak attack" that was "faster than an Uzi's bullet."

Even if the repeal legislation passed in the House and survived a filibuster in the Senate, it would without question be vetoed by President Clinton. But supporters of repeal from both sides of the aisle said they would not be deterred by that prospect.

"I oppose the ban on so-called assault weapons because it is a poorly crafted, symbolic gesture that has failed to make a meaningful contribution to reducing violent crime in our society," said Jim Chapman, a Texas Democrat and one of the leaders in the repeal fight. "The legislation is well meaning in its goal, but misguided in its implementation and ineffective in its results."

The bill that the Republicans intend to bring to the floor Friday is one that Chapman introduced Jan. 4, 1995, the opening day of the 104th Congress. Chapman said that he has at least 30 to 35 Democratic co-sponsors of the bill.

The gun ban was part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, a $30.2-billion measure that was intended to put 100,000 new police officers on the streets, build new prisons and detention camps, expand the numbers of crimes that fall under the federal death penalty and establish crime-prevention programs.

The National Rifle Association lobbied fiercely against the ban on semiautomatic guns. After throwing its political muscle and money behind Republicans in the 1994 congressional races, the NRA made the repeal of the law a top legislative priority.

But that effort lost steam after the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City last year.

Democrats asserted Wednesday that the Republicans' decision to revive the issue is meant to make good on a campaign promise and to solicit NRA support for this year's elections.