PERSPECTIVE ON GUN CONTROL : Carnage in Killeen, Cowardice in Congress : Just one day after the massacre, the lobbyists prevailed, again, to block controls on firearms designed to kill people.

As I watched the news clips of bodies being carried out of a cafeteria in Killeen, Tex., last week, I was reminded of two other recent mass killings: one in a Stockton, Calif., schoolyard and another at a Louisville, Ky., printing plant. Both tragedies made painfully clear the carnage wrought by semiautomatic assault weapons. And both brought calls from the public for stronger gun laws. But Congress did nothing.

Ironically, the Killeen tragedy occurred on the eve of a scheduled vote in the House of Representatives to outlaw assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition clips--military magazines like that used by the deranged gunman in Killeen. What clearer picture did Congress need of the firepower and illegitimacy of these combat arms?

Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Tex.), whose district includes Killeen, stood on the House floor to explain why he was abandoning his long-held opposition to vote in favor of the ban. “For me, suddenly, the old arguments ring hollow. . . . We can’t bring back the lives lost in my district yesterday, but I hope with your vote today, perhaps, we can save some lives in your neighborhood tomorrow.”

But in the end, the powerful special-interest assault-weapon lobby, the National Rifle Assn., won out over police and public safety. Only 177 representatives showed the courage to stand up for those of us who want to walk the streets in safety, send our kids to school in safety, eat at restaurants in safety and work at our jobs in safety.

Opponents of sensible gun laws continue to say that criminals will always be able to get guns. That may be true, but why must we make it so easy for them to obtain weapons designed just for the purpose of killing human beings quickly and easily? Hunters and sportsmen don’t take AK-47s and Uzis into the woods to hunt deer. And most states limit ammunition clips for hunting to six or seven rounds. We protect our game better than we protect our citizens.

Opponents argued that even with smaller ammunition clips, the gunman could have reloaded and continued shooting. Perhaps, but at least he would have been slowed down. Those seconds could well have saved lives.

And as Edwards said, that’s what last week’s vote was about--saving lives. No single piece of legislation is the be-all and end-all to America’s escalating gun violence. Rather, we must look at many solutions. The gun lobby advocates stiffer penalties and more jails. That’s important, but it’s not enough. The gunmen in Stockton, Louisville and Killeen all took their own lives after their shooting sprees. Whom can we punish? Whom can we jail? We must take preventive action.

Congress chose to do just that when it passed the so-called Brady Bill earlier this year, requiring a waiting period and background check for handgun buyers to ensure that we aren’t selling these weapons to criminals and crack peddlers. The measure, about to go to a congressional conference committee, must still be signed by President Bush.

It took three sessions of Congress to pass the Brady Bill and we will keep up the pressure for an assault-weapon ban.

The 247 cowardly House members who bowed to the assault-weapon lobby may have feared that the NRA wouldn’t forgive them a vote for the ban. But they will learn that the American public won’t forgive them for ignoring public safety.

No one can bring back the 23 people who lost their lives last week in Killeen. But Congress had a chance to help prevent others from suffering the same fate. Congress had the opportunity to do the right thing and it refused.

Is it going to take a massacre in every congressional district for enough members to find the backbone to put public safety ahead of the profits of the assault-weapon lobby? I desperately hope not. The vote last week was a disgrace, and a disservice to every law-abiding citizen.