Clintoon claimed that the 500,000 rejections from NICS were felons...
Clinton, NRA Fire Live Ammo
President Demands Gun Show Regulations
By Sascha Segan
March 12 — President Bill Clinton and an NRA official
unleashed some pungent rhetoric on gun control on
ABCNEWS’ This Week, with the National Rifle Association
bizarrely accusing the president of trying to keep crime rates
from dropping.
“He needs a certain level of violence in this country. He’s willing to
accept a certain level of killing to further his political agenda,” NRA
executive vice president Wayne LaPierre told Sam Donaldson and Cokie
Roberts.
The president said the NRA is unwilling to listen to reason. “They
basically win through intimidation,” he said. “People are scared of
them.”
Debating Gun-Show Restrictions
President Clinton presented a moderate and thoughtful face on the
program, reflecting on how he has owned a gun since he was 12 and
sounding frustrated at the NRA’s hard line against gun restrictions.
“I’m not anti-gun, I’m not anti-sportsperson, I’m not against the
legitimate use of guns. [The NRA are] domino theory people. If you do
one little thing that ... requires any effort on the part of gun owners they
think it’s the end of the world,” he said.
In this case, the debate is over the scope of background checks for
buyers at gun shows; the president wants a 72-hour waiting period when
criminal or mental-health records aren’t easily accessible. The NRA
opposes such a waiting period, but backs bills containing only instant
background checks.
“Closing the gun show loophole is really important, because now a lot
of people who know they’ll be checked in gun stores can go to the urban
flea markets,” the president said.
He said that in limited circumstances, the 72-hour background checks
are necessary — and said that Congressional leaders are working to come
to a compromise, but slammed the NRA for preventing a compromise
from being reached.
“What we offered them was, okay, 24 hours for everyone you can
check within 24 hours. Over 90 percent you can check in 24 hours, but for
those you can’t check in 24 hours, we should be able to hold them for
three days,” he said.
The president also spoke about the 6-year-old killer in the recent
Michigan school shooting.
“Human nature being what it is, he’ll probably end up punishing
himself as time goes on. He’ll know, and one of two things will happen.
Either he will grow up with no conscience because he won’t be able to live
with it ... or he’ll grow up consumed with guilt. That child is going to need
a lot of help,” he said.
NRA: Enforcement Is Solution
LaPierre focused on slamming the Clinton administration’s record on gun
prosecutions, claiming that gun crimes are not a problem in the suburbs,
but that the government has been weak on enforcing gun laws in “pockets
of poverty.”
The violence in this country is an issue of pockets of poverty and the
people who are committing this violence are drug dealers with guns, gangs
with guns, and violent felons with guns. The only way you are going to get
rid of that problem is by prosecuting ... if the president would enforce the
law against drug dealers with guns he’d stop things like that crack house
in Michigan,” he said.
Clinton and LaPierre agreed that gun regulations would be a central
issue in this year’s presidential campaign.
“I can’t even pass a bill closing the gun show loophole ... if the people
want more done, I think that should be heavily debated in this presidential
election. It’s one of the things that will become the shape of 21st century
America,” the president said.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNews/thisweek_000312.html
hopefully we will have a transcript on ABC by next week
http://abcnews.go.com/onair/thisweek/ThisWeekIndex.html
