By SANDRA SOBIERAJ=
Associated Press Writer=
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Vice President Al Gore responded Wednesday
with a chuckle to the National Rifle Association's recent
declaration of war on his candidacy and insisted: ``I have no
intention of proposing or supporting policies or allowing policies
that disarm America.''
The Democratic presidential candidate, speaking on National
Public Radio's ``Diane Rehm Show,'' was reacting to a vivid image
from last weekend's NRA convention. Association president Charlton
Heston had lifted a musket above his head and challenged Gore,
saying the weapon would have to be pried ``from my cold dead
hands.''
Reminded by Rehm of that scene, Gore replied with a laugh that
``I would not do what he accuses me of planning.''
Heston and others at the convention in Charlotte, N.C., accused
the Clinton-Gore administration of plotting to confiscate guns from
law-abiding citizens and then ban the weapons, beginning with
licensing and registration.
``I have no intention of proposing or supporting policies or
allowing policies that disarm America or take guns away from
law-abiding gun owners,'' Gore said Wednesday.
``What I have proposed that has upset (Heston) so much is a set
of common-sense restrictions on the availability of handguns to
people who shouldn't have them.''
Gore has proposed mandatory child-safety trigger locks, a ban on
cheap ``Saturday night special'' guns, a one-per-month limit on
individual handgun purchases, and gun-safety testing and
photo-licensing for all purchasers of new handguns.
Bush, the Texas governor whom Heston has endorsed in the
presidential campaign, said earlier this month that he would have
his state provide free trigger locks to anyone requesting one. But
he opposes mandatory trigger locks.
Gore racked up a pro-gun voting record in his days as a
congressman from Tennessee _ so much so that Bush, his Republican
rival, recently suggested Gore was once a card-carrying NRA member,
something the Gore camp dismissed. Bush aides eventually
acknowledged they could not back up the governor's contention.
As a senator, Gore in 1985 voted against a 14-day waiting period
for handgun purchases and in 1990 voted against an amendment that
would have prohibited the sale of large-capacity ammunition
magazines and banned a dozen types of assault-style weapons.
Gore has spoken of those votes, which stand in contrast to his
more staunchly gun-control agenda of today, as part and parcel of
representing rural districts of Tennessee hunters and sportsmen.
Also on Wednesday, Gore kept up his drumbeat against Bush's plan
to allow workers to invest some of their Social Security payroll
taxes in the stock market.
Although Bush has not specified how much he would allow to be
diverted to private investment, Gore said that taking even 2
percentage points away from the 12.4 percent of an individual's
income that now goes to the Social Security Trust Fund would amount
to a 16-percent cut in resources to the fund.
``That means that the people who are currently receiving Social
Security checks will be relying on a trust fund that is suddenly
missing 16 percent of its regular income,'' Gore said. ``How do you
make that up?''
He brushed aside his own deficit in recent polls. But, for a man
who asserted, ``I don't pay much attention to them,'' he betrayed a
solid familiarity with the numbers.
``Polls are notoriously misleading. The fact that there is a
4-to-5 point spread, when you look at them together, doesn't really
amount to much,'' Gore said.
``Six months ago it was a 20-point spread, so if you look at it
over that time frame, you could say, 'Oh, well, Gore's really made
progress.'''
Associated Press Writer=
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Vice President Al Gore responded Wednesday
with a chuckle to the National Rifle Association's recent
declaration of war on his candidacy and insisted: ``I have no
intention of proposing or supporting policies or allowing policies
that disarm America.''
The Democratic presidential candidate, speaking on National
Public Radio's ``Diane Rehm Show,'' was reacting to a vivid image
from last weekend's NRA convention. Association president Charlton
Heston had lifted a musket above his head and challenged Gore,
saying the weapon would have to be pried ``from my cold dead
hands.''
Reminded by Rehm of that scene, Gore replied with a laugh that
``I would not do what he accuses me of planning.''
Heston and others at the convention in Charlotte, N.C., accused
the Clinton-Gore administration of plotting to confiscate guns from
law-abiding citizens and then ban the weapons, beginning with
licensing and registration.
``I have no intention of proposing or supporting policies or
allowing policies that disarm America or take guns away from
law-abiding gun owners,'' Gore said Wednesday.
``What I have proposed that has upset (Heston) so much is a set
of common-sense restrictions on the availability of handguns to
people who shouldn't have them.''
Gore has proposed mandatory child-safety trigger locks, a ban on
cheap ``Saturday night special'' guns, a one-per-month limit on
individual handgun purchases, and gun-safety testing and
photo-licensing for all purchasers of new handguns.
Bush, the Texas governor whom Heston has endorsed in the
presidential campaign, said earlier this month that he would have
his state provide free trigger locks to anyone requesting one. But
he opposes mandatory trigger locks.
Gore racked up a pro-gun voting record in his days as a
congressman from Tennessee _ so much so that Bush, his Republican
rival, recently suggested Gore was once a card-carrying NRA member,
something the Gore camp dismissed. Bush aides eventually
acknowledged they could not back up the governor's contention.
As a senator, Gore in 1985 voted against a 14-day waiting period
for handgun purchases and in 1990 voted against an amendment that
would have prohibited the sale of large-capacity ammunition
magazines and banned a dozen types of assault-style weapons.
Gore has spoken of those votes, which stand in contrast to his
more staunchly gun-control agenda of today, as part and parcel of
representing rural districts of Tennessee hunters and sportsmen.
Also on Wednesday, Gore kept up his drumbeat against Bush's plan
to allow workers to invest some of their Social Security payroll
taxes in the stock market.
Although Bush has not specified how much he would allow to be
diverted to private investment, Gore said that taking even 2
percentage points away from the 12.4 percent of an individual's
income that now goes to the Social Security Trust Fund would amount
to a 16-percent cut in resources to the fund.
``That means that the people who are currently receiving Social
Security checks will be relying on a trust fund that is suddenly
missing 16 percent of its regular income,'' Gore said. ``How do you
make that up?''
He brushed aside his own deficit in recent polls. But, for a man
who asserted, ``I don't pay much attention to them,'' he betrayed a
solid familiarity with the numbers.
``Polls are notoriously misleading. The fact that there is a
4-to-5 point spread, when you look at them together, doesn't really
amount to much,'' Gore said.
``Six months ago it was a 20-point spread, so if you look at it
over that time frame, you could say, 'Oh, well, Gore's really made
progress.'''
uke: