European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 22, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes columns Leon Daniel opposition to assault rifles stiffening in . My purely personal prejudice against assault rifles comes from having heard the screams of Young Gas an vietnamese who Lay dying after being gut shot with ak-47s and a i 6s. After seeing Young men die horribly of sucking Chest wounds inflicted by such weapons. 1 find it impossible to under stand Why anyone would want to kill an animal with an assault Rifle. It makes As much sense to me As Hunt ing gnats with a baseball Bat. I do understand Why murderers want assault rifles. U is obvious they Are Excel Lent tools for killing people. Seventy three percent of american favor a nationwide ban on the manufacture Sale and ownership of assault weapons according to a cd new poll re leased last week. Public reaction against them has Bee building since a Man armed with one killed five schoolchildren in Stockton Call of in january. After that crime some of us find it bitterly ironic that sales in assault rifles Are booming. Gun dealers and collectors consider them an excellent investment now be cause president Bush announced Las week a suspension on their importation. The president wants the Burea of alcohol tobacco and firearms to investigate How they affect Law enforce ment and whether they have legitimate sport  Washington which has the nation highest per capita homicide Rale opposition is stiffening to the military style As Sault rifles. At the National Rifle association Headquarters a Short stroll from the while House reaction to the administration s indefinite ban on most Semiao Matic rifles was mild. The Era even said the ban would provide a needed Cooling of period. Butt advocates of gun control Are not lulled. They know the Era is Cir cling its wagons and they expect the pow William Safire Erful gun lobby to fight hard against a permanent ban. For urging the current ban drug Czar William Bennett received threats to his political future from people with ties to the Era according  administration but a spokesman for the gun lobby called that report  still the Era has made it Clear it will right any efforts to ban semiautomatic rifles used for Hunting. A just have 10 make our. Case Era lobbyist Wayne Lapierre told the new York times. We Haven t made i yet but we will -. ,. The Era promotes itself As a main Stream lobby. It fights the Star Type held by some that it is gang of Rifle toting gun null that bullies politicians to gel their support. Re .1. -. Gun control advocates were dismayed when the first Federal lawmaker to appear in the lobby s i m the Era advertising series turned out to be demo cratic rep. Mike Espy the first Black congressman from Mississippi where there arc 37,000 Era members. Espy said after the full Page color Magazine and appeared Down Here peo ple protect their right to Hunt Ana use weapons  =. But the congressman from the missis Sippi Delta knows very Well that weapons Are Seldom used  in the District of Columbia where frightened residents grumble that . Should Stan for Dodge City. Loon Ali Tel is up new thur president doing his own thing in his own Way the tension was palpable at the White house1friday neg he the first dog a 2-Ycar-old English Springer Spaniel Bitch named Mildred Kerr Bush and known As Millie was on the verge of having he first litter. Under the circumstances Barbara Bush could not. Have been More gracious to . Dozen Trie Tidi longtime associates and sprinkling of press invited to drop by for an Early Buffet dinner and a movie. No  off the record restrictions were imposed wearing a Long Green dress in Honor of St. Patrick s Day she conducted the tour of the family quarters with warmth and enthusiasm. A few visitors even got 10 Sec the whelping Box where Millie Lay looking Wor ried. The  that we were being entertained up stairs Thal part of the White House cheerful yellow Walls and Crystal chandeliers is ordinarily for family and intimates Only off limits to the Public hours an official entertaining in my five Nixon years i had been upstairs Only once Ana never since. Come on gang said the president inviting us to View what is now the Lincoln bedroom the first lady removed the cover from a Gettysburg address copied but in Lincoln s own hand and pointed out this was the room then an office in which the emancipation proclamation had been signed. Look at the Way the  handles the Lour whispered the admiring president standing in the. Back. Terrific at All the historic details even with her mind on Millie.". I could not help recalling such movie going was Al most like old limes 20 years ago when George and Barbara and their kids and Helene and 1 and our kids used to go to the movies on Friday nights in the base ment of Martha and Charlie Bartlelt s House the president nodded chuckling remember the Palisades?1 1 said yeah who could forget.1 i Don t remember any  i never eve went to he amusement Park of dial name in now Jersey when i was a kid Mayb he thinks of me in a different context maybe the v Palisades approximates the name of an other couple like the Blairs or the cantos maybe a was saying Palace aides or worst of All maybe he accurately remembers some bonding episode invaluable to a historian that has gone clean out of my mind. 1 Dunno but when the president of the United slates punches you lightly on the Arm and shares a reminiscence the Only thing to do is to say yeah who could forget eager to recover i recalled to the president the Lime during the Campaign that he sent me his revealing annotations on a column of mine but then drove allot us at the new York times up the Wall by writing personal across the lop which meant we could no treat it As fit to print. He nodded and said not every body treats it that  -1 took that to be a reference to a personal note Bush had recently sent to Paul Weyrich the right Wingate totalitarian whose testimony helped bring Down Iotia Tower. On receipt of the Handwritten forgive. Ness Weyrich sent photocopies to All and sundry prompting political hardball play arc like me to con clude that  other Che Kines would under mine political discipline. When internal opposition has no consequences loyalty has Little a Wara and both respect and Power Are diminished. Thai waste Way Strong presidents Jike Reagan Nixon and Johnson enforced their decisions but to is evidently not George Bush s Way. His predecessors loved id impress with the pomp of the Fust floor. President Bush enjoys the Impact of the intimacy of the family rooms. At least at the Start he is doing his own thing at his own Pace and in his own determined no recriminations Way inside that velvet love is a velvet hand. " after the shrimp casserole on Rice the first lady led the group my Murtic Malek Mccase Brady Hatfield Etc to the grand staircase and sent us to the Movi theater downstairs excusing herself to stay with Millie during the showing of new York stories the president s phone rang once he listened chewed his pop Corn and said nothing. Somebody whispered its either a problem with Gad Aii or it s puppies.". After the movie the. President announced two puppies so far and More  to the ensuing cheer he waved self mockingly and said it was  he added proudly Millie s Fine. So is  we wished him Mazelion and went Home. A guided Lour a bag of Popcorn and shared memories of the Palisades ? is not enough to seduce me for More than a week but 1 can report firsthand that he is trying to relax an uptight nation Forward. It s a whole other presidency the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and we in no Way to be considered As representing the views of the stars ind stripes or the United states Goferm Keiit