Helen Thomas:

WASHINGTON -- Assault weapons will soon be back on America's streets again -- thanks to President Bush and Congress.

Bush let the 10-year ban die on the deadly weapons -- good for mass murder -- by not taking a vigorous leadership role to persuade Congress to extend the ban.

His spokesman, Scott McClellan, told reporters that Bush would sign an extension if it crossed his desk, saying the president's views "are well known."

"Congress is well aware of the president's position," said McClellan. But he made it clear Bush would not lobby for it. In the absence of presidential leadership, Congress wasn't going to leap into action.

The inaction by the president and Congress has made a lot of members of the National Rifle Association happy -- and the NRA has reciprocated with political support and campaign contributions.

But what about the safety of the American people? Do they count with Bush and those on Capitol Hill who did not lift a finger to stop these dangerous weapons from returning In deciding not to lift a finger, Bush ignored police chiefs who have been urging that the law be renewed. They know what harm these weapons can bring.

Congress passed the ban in 1944 on 19 assault weapons, customarily the type used by the military, and decreed that the law would expire this week unless renewed.

By allowing the law to lapse, Congress has signaled that it might next end the ban on handguns within Washington, D.C. The nation's capital now has a 100 percent ban on firearms of any kind.

Sarah Brady, an outspoken leader in behalf of gun control, laid the blame for this mess right on Bush's doorstep. On CBS' "The Early Show," Brady said the "real onus" falls on Bush, who, she said, exerted "absolutely no leadership" to keep the ban alive.

"We have a president and leadership in the House and Senate that simply do not want to face this," she added.

Sarah's husband, Jim Brady, was President Ronald Reagan's press secretary and was severely wounded in an assassination attempt on Reagan in 1981.

Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential challenger, accused Bush of shirking his responsibility to protect the country from crime and terrorism by not helping to extend the ban.

In remarks to the National Association of Police Organizations, a coalition of more than 2,000 police unions and associations, Kerry said Bush had made "the job of terrorists easier and made the job of America's law enforcement officers harder" by refusing to work for an extension of the ban.

Kerry also won the political endorsement of the police association.

In a letter to the New York Times Monday, Robert Morgenthau, the district attorney for New York County, said the assault weapons ban has become widely accepted even among gun owners.

The ban has made us all safer, MOrgenthau said. He added that the end of the ban "will needlessly jeopardize our police; one in five officers killed in the line of duty between 1998 and 2001 was killed with an assault weapons, according to an analysis of FBI data."

An assault weapon does not serve a hunter unless he wants to blast the prey to mincemeat. What is this desire to have a weapon that can be so devastating and can kill so many people in one burst?

The gun manufacturers obviously are glad to be back in business. By its silence the Republican-dominated Congress has given the NRA its political payoff. I'd like to hear the president explain why assault weapons are needed in the hands of civilians.

Copyright 2004 Hearst Newspapers