Gunning for Ashcroft
The new front against the attorney general.

December 7, 2001 9:50 a.m.

any of the news reports about John Ashcroft's appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee have focused on the attorney general's "defiant" and "unyielding" stance toward critics of Bush administration antiterrorism efforts. But there was another, nearly as important, development during Thursday's hearing, and that was the decision by a number of Democrats to open a new front in their attack on Ashcroft. Equally alarming, for Republicans, was that Ashcroft did not appear to know how to defend himself or his administration's policy.

The issue was guns. Thursday morning, hours before Ashcroft was set to testify, the New York Times published a front-page story headlined, "Justice Department Bars Use Of Gun Checks In Terror Inquiry." The paper reported that FBI agents investigating suspects in the antiterrorist probe had asked to review gun-purchase background checks to see if any detainees had tried to buy firearms. Top Justice Department officials, saying the background data could not be used for that purpose, refused to allow the FBI to see the information. The decision, according to the Times, was "in keeping with Attorney General John Ashcroft's strong support of gun rights and his longstanding opposition to the government's use of background check records."

The article, apparently timed to coincide with Ashcroft's testimony, blindsided several Senate Republicans (although the Justice Department knew it was coming). For their part, Democrats, some of whom were sources for the Times, were well-prepared to use the new information against Ashcroft.

Sen. Ted Kennedy read from a terrorist manual instructing jihadists-in-training to purchase weapons legally in the U.S. "Why is the Department handcuffing the FBI in its efforts to investigate gun purchases by suspected terrorists?" Kennedy demanded to know. Ashcroft responded that the background-check law, which created what is known as the National Instant Check System, does not allow investigators to use gun-purchase records for that purpose.

"Do you think it ought to be changed?" Kennedy asked. "I won't comment on specific legislation in the hypothetical," Ashcroft answered.

New York Democrat Charles Schumer took the questioning one step further. When Ashcroft again argued the law did not allow the FBI to see gun-purchase records, Schumer asked why the Justice Department, when it recently requested a number of changes in the law to aid the fight against terrorism, didn't ask for the authority to review gun-purchase background checks. "Why didn't you ask us for, when you asked us for a whole lot of things in the antiterrorism bill, a whole lot of things that you said new circumstances required us to need?" Schumer asked. "Why didn't you ask us for that authority, if you believe you don't have it?"

Ashcroft repeated his belief that the law does not allow the FBI to review gun-purchase information. But he never answered Schumer's question.

Privately, some Republicans were deeply concerned about Ashcroft's performance. Some tried to defend the attorney general by arguing that none of the September 11 terrorists used guns. While that is true, it is also true that they did not use anthrax or explosives, and authorities are actively investigating real and threatened terrorist acts involving those. Some in the GOP conceded that Ashcroft's answer was, in the description of one Hill aide, "technical" and failed to address the real issue: Why can't investigators check the gun-buying records of suspected terrorists? And if the attorney general believes the law doesn't allow it, why hasn't he asked for new authority to do so?

Some Republicans who support virtually every aspect of the Bush antiterrorism effort nevertheless suspect Ashcroft's position on guns is wrong both on substance and politics. Now, with Democrats charged up about the issue, they fear political reprisals. "On everything else, we're telling the American people, 'We're not protecting the feelings of the ACLU, we're going after the terrorists to protect you,'" the Hill aide says. "Now, they [Democrats] can turn it on us and say, 'They're protecting the feelings of the NRA and not protecting you.'"