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Gun control fades as campaign issue
Scott Shepard - Cox Washington Bureau
Thursday, April 20, 2000
Nashville -- Thousands of Tennesseans visit the weekend gun show
that Dave Goodman stages at the state fairgrounds here each
month, and the anger that many express over Al Gore's gun
policies is helping put a political safety lock on the issue in this
year's presidential campaign.
"Angry? I'm damn angry," added Goodman. "They're trying to turn a right into a privilege. They're
trying to stigmatize law-abiding Americans. And they're trying to put us out of business."
Goodman holds up to 80 gun shows a year, mostly in Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and
Michigan. And everywhere he goes gun owners are "fed up" with the Clinton-Gore administration,
Goodman said.
That kind of anger is having an unexpected effect on the gun control debate, which was supposed
to favor Democrats this fall --- especially Vice President Gore's expected race against Texas Gov.
George W. Bush.
During the Democratic primaries, Gore's anti-gun rhetoric was directed at Bush rather than his
challenger, former Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey, who advocated registration of all firearms. But
since securing the nomination, Gore has said little about Bush's position on guns.
That suggests that gun control, once a centerpiece of Gore's campaign strategy against Bush, may
not emerge as a defining issue this fall.
As public opinion polls show Americans increasingly skeptical of the need for more gun laws, Gore
and Democratic congressional candidates are beginning to speak of gun "safety" rather than gun
"control."
Gore's scheduled appearance at a high school in Fort Lee, N.J., today, the anniversary of the deadly
shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., was promoted by campaign officials as a
"school safety forum" on keeping guns out of schools and churches.
Part of the reason for Gore's reluctance to emphasize the gun issue against Bush is that the
National Rifle Association's strategy of advocating increased enforcement of existing laws appears
to be winning converts beyond the organization's loyal followers.
An ABC News/Washington Post poll this month found that 53 percent of Americans preferred
"stricter enforcement of existing laws," while 33 percent preferred "passing stricter gun control
laws."
After the Columbine tragedy, 66 percent of Americans agreed that laws covering the sale of
firearms should be made more strict, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll in April 1999. But
that percentage has now dropped to 61 percent, the poll found this month.
"Gore can't go too far to the left on this and win the general election," said Daniel Webster, an
assistant professor of health at the Center for Gun Policy and Research at Johns Hopkins
University's School of Hygiene and Public Health.
Gun control advocates insist, however, that gun violence will be a major issue this fall.
"For the first time in a presidential campaign, a major candidate is advocating licensing of gun
owners," said David Bernstein, spokesman for Handgun Control, the organization Sara Brady has
headed since the assassination attempt that left her husband, former Reagan White House press
secretary Jim Brady, partially paralyzed. "We're very pleased about that."
Gore's criticism of Bush's pro-gun stance has focused primarily on the governor's signing of a law in
1995 that made it legal for Texans to carry concealed weapons.
More recently, Gore has coordinated efforts with Democratic members of Congress to highlight a
1997 Texas law that would make it more difficult to prosecute Texans who carry concealed weapons
into banned areas such as places of worship. "We can respect the rights of hunters and legitimate
gun owners while also acknowledging that bullets and Bibles don't mix," said Sen. Joseph Lieberman
(D-Conn.).
But the success of the NRA's enforcement argument has provided Bush with a response to such
criticism.
"There's no reason for Governor Bush to try to hide from this issue, because the fact of the matter
is the Clinton-Gore administration has not enforced the laws that are already on the books," said Haley Barbour, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and a top adviser to the Bush campaign.
Gun control fades as campaign issue
Scott Shepard - Cox Washington Bureau
Thursday, April 20, 2000
Nashville -- Thousands of Tennesseans visit the weekend gun show
that Dave Goodman stages at the state fairgrounds here each
month, and the anger that many express over Al Gore's gun
policies is helping put a political safety lock on the issue in this
year's presidential campaign.
"Angry? I'm damn angry," added Goodman. "They're trying to turn a right into a privilege. They're
trying to stigmatize law-abiding Americans. And they're trying to put us out of business."
Goodman holds up to 80 gun shows a year, mostly in Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and
Michigan. And everywhere he goes gun owners are "fed up" with the Clinton-Gore administration,
Goodman said.
That kind of anger is having an unexpected effect on the gun control debate, which was supposed
to favor Democrats this fall --- especially Vice President Gore's expected race against Texas Gov.
George W. Bush.
During the Democratic primaries, Gore's anti-gun rhetoric was directed at Bush rather than his
challenger, former Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey, who advocated registration of all firearms. But
since securing the nomination, Gore has said little about Bush's position on guns.
That suggests that gun control, once a centerpiece of Gore's campaign strategy against Bush, may
not emerge as a defining issue this fall.
As public opinion polls show Americans increasingly skeptical of the need for more gun laws, Gore
and Democratic congressional candidates are beginning to speak of gun "safety" rather than gun
"control."
Gore's scheduled appearance at a high school in Fort Lee, N.J., today, the anniversary of the deadly
shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., was promoted by campaign officials as a
"school safety forum" on keeping guns out of schools and churches.
Part of the reason for Gore's reluctance to emphasize the gun issue against Bush is that the
National Rifle Association's strategy of advocating increased enforcement of existing laws appears
to be winning converts beyond the organization's loyal followers.
An ABC News/Washington Post poll this month found that 53 percent of Americans preferred
"stricter enforcement of existing laws," while 33 percent preferred "passing stricter gun control
laws."
After the Columbine tragedy, 66 percent of Americans agreed that laws covering the sale of
firearms should be made more strict, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll in April 1999. But
that percentage has now dropped to 61 percent, the poll found this month.
"Gore can't go too far to the left on this and win the general election," said Daniel Webster, an
assistant professor of health at the Center for Gun Policy and Research at Johns Hopkins
University's School of Hygiene and Public Health.
Gun control advocates insist, however, that gun violence will be a major issue this fall.
"For the first time in a presidential campaign, a major candidate is advocating licensing of gun
owners," said David Bernstein, spokesman for Handgun Control, the organization Sara Brady has
headed since the assassination attempt that left her husband, former Reagan White House press
secretary Jim Brady, partially paralyzed. "We're very pleased about that."
Gore's criticism of Bush's pro-gun stance has focused primarily on the governor's signing of a law in
1995 that made it legal for Texans to carry concealed weapons.
More recently, Gore has coordinated efforts with Democratic members of Congress to highlight a
1997 Texas law that would make it more difficult to prosecute Texans who carry concealed weapons
into banned areas such as places of worship. "We can respect the rights of hunters and legitimate
gun owners while also acknowledging that bullets and Bibles don't mix," said Sen. Joseph Lieberman
(D-Conn.).
But the success of the NRA's enforcement argument has provided Bush with a response to such
criticism.
"There's no reason for Governor Bush to try to hide from this issue, because the fact of the matter
is the Clinton-Gore administration has not enforced the laws that are already on the books," said Haley Barbour, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and a top adviser to the Bush campaign.