Tell me more ×
English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 2 down vote favorite

I saw the following sentence in today's Washington Post article. What does 'Reno-era' policy mean? It's a new word to me. Can somebody tell?

Reno-era policy kept Jared Loughner off FBI gun list. An old policy memo from the Clinton administration paved the way for accused Arizona gunman Jared Loughner to buy his first firearm.

share|improve this question

1 Answer

up vote 10 down vote accepted
+50

"Reno-era" refers to the time when Janet Reno was the Attorney General of the US.

The second sentence of the Washington Post article mentions "then-Attorney General" Reno

Put in place by then-Attorney General Janet Reno, the policy prohibited the military from reporting certain drug abusers to the FBI, which manages the national list of prohibited gun-buyers, federal officials said.

From Wikipedia

Janet Reno is a former Attorney General of the United States (1993–2001). She was nominated by President Bill Clinton on February 11, 1993, and confirmed on March 11. She was the first female Attorney General and the second longest serving Attorney General after William Wirt.

EDIT: clarifed and moved WAPO article to top of answer

share|improve this answer
1  
Thank you very much John. I thought 'Reno'is a common noun, and couldn't associate it with a person's (then-Attorney General's )name. It's the weak point of, and a hard barrier for foreign learner of English like me with little knowledge of politics, culture, history and many other things of U.S. and western world. I think that's why I am on this forum. - Yoichi – Yoichi Oishi Jan 19 '11 at 11:51
1  
@Yoichi yes, culture (if you can call what the US has culture ;-)) is important. Just check (where, I don't know myself actually) how many (US) idioms come from baseball. Just knowing the basics of it (very basically what the object of the game is, what some things are called, and such) helps a lot in understanding these idioms. – Jürgen A. Erhard Jan 19 '11 at 12:05
1  
@Yoichi: the bounty system is explained in the site FAQ. If the language used there is difficult for a non-native speaker, let us know what points are unclear and we can clarify them here :-) – PLL Jan 22 '11 at 22:36
1  
@Yoichi Oishi: A bounty is a reward, or prize, for achieving a goal. If you offer a bounty on a question, you give up some of your reputation as a reward for answering the question successfully. The bounty-points go to whoever you nominate to receive them, or to the answer with the highest vote count at the end of the time frame. – Orbling Jan 22 '11 at 23:57
1  
@Yoichi: awarding the bounty is usually automatic when you accept an answer. Perhaps since the answer was accepted before you set the bounty, you might have to de-accept it and then accept it again? (So: click the green check-mark underneath its vote count twice; the first click should de-accept it, the second click should re-accept it and hopefully award him the bounty? I’m not certain this is exactly right, but it’s what I would try if I were in your position.) – PLL Jan 25 '11 at 20:19
show 6 more comments

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.