Two mistakes combined to make Bill Clinton the most respected Democrat to be elected president in the previous 50 years. First was his wife's' getting caught trying to organize nationalized health care behind closed doors. The second was the passage of the Assault weapons Ban of 1994. The two of them resulted in the Republicans controlling the House and the Senate for the next 6 years. Prevented from implementing any of his party's favorite programs, he wound up looking not so bad if you ignore the "Bimbo eruptions".
What he wanted was quite a bit more serious. Disturbing even. The administration supported frivolous lawsuits against gun makers and sellers in hopes of either bankrupting them or effectively nationalizing them to be run as the government saw fit. In 2000 Smith and Wesson, then under British ownership conceded to the Clintons and agreed to most of their demands. The resultant boycott reduced the value of the company to about 10% of its original value.
The stuff that S&W agreed to would only have been the beginning. Found at Arms and the Law, is a link to a pdf (6 pages) from the Clinton library detailing what Bill and Co. had in mind for the firearms industry. The first link is a summary and makes for easy reading. The pdf goes into detail with legal jargon. If you can get past the legalese, the details are horrendous. All this was to be put into effect as a result of lawsuits rather than legislation which Bill recognized he could never get passed.
The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act of 2005 largely put a stop to the frivolous lawsuits but keep the contents in mind should Bills Designated Heir actually get elected.
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