Following the tragedy of April 20, 1999, when Dylan Kleibold and Eric

Harris opened fire inside of their high school in Littleton, Colorado killing fifteen people, there is finally an agreement that there clearly needs to be something done about guns.
Trent Lott, R-Miss., wanted the senate to debate on new firearm restrictions (Austin 18-3). He chose to use a revised juvenile crime bill (S 254).
This bill had eight proposals including a ban on gun sales over the Internet, an increase in the minimum age to own a gun from 18 to 21, and an import ban on ammunition clips that hold a large amount of bullets. He wanted to stray away from the proposal of holding parents accountable if their child commits a crime with a firearm and the waiting period for gun purchases (Austin 18-5)
On May 12, 1999, the Senate defeated the S 254 proposal, but then two days later, used the language. This was adopted by a single vote (Austin 18-5).
On this same day, the Senate voted to kill an amendment by Frank Lautenberg, a
Democrat from New Jersey, that required background checks for all purchases at gun shows. The Senate also approved by a 53-45 vote, an amendment that allowed private gun sellers to use a national database, offered by Larry E. Craig, a Republican from Idaho (Austin 18-6).
However, there was controversy surrounding Craig's amendment, as
Gordon H. Smith realized what he had voted for. He thought that Craig's amendment would be voluntary. He, along with many other senators were extremely mad and therefore forced Craig to use new language to make the background checks mandatory. Then, Democrats thought that his new language was full of loopholes. The new measure passed by only one vote 48-47 (Austin
18-6).
Diane Feinstein, a democrat from California, went on to make an amendment to ban the importation of clips and magazines that could hold more than ten bullets
(Austin 18-7)