For what it's worth, here's the transcript of that question:
LEHRER: New subject, new question.
Vice President Gore, how do you see the connection between controlling gun sales in this country and the incidence of death by accidental or intentional use of guns?
GORE: Jim, I hope that we can come back to the subject of education, because the governor made an extensive statement on it, and I have a very different view than the one he -- than the one he expressed. But that having been said, I believe that -- well, first of all, let me say that the governor and I agree on some things where this subject is concerned. I will not do anything to affect the rights of hunters or sportsmen. I think that homeowners have to be respected and the right to have a gun if they wish to.
The problem I see is that there are too many guns getting into the hands of children and criminals and people who for whatever reason, some kind of history of -- of stalking or domestic abuse,really should not be able to get guns. I think these assault weapons are a problem.
So I favor closing the gun show loophole.
GORE: In fact, I cast the tie-breaking vote to close it. But then the majority in the House of Representatives went the other way. That's still pending. If we could get agreement on that, maybe they could pass that in the final days of this Congress.
I think we ought to restore the three-day waiting period under the Brady Law.
I think we should toughen the enforcement of gun laws so that the ones that are already on the books can be enforced much more effectively. Some of the restrictions that have been placed by the Congress in the last couple of years, I think -- in the last few years, I think have been unfortunate.
I think that we ought to make all schools gun-free. Have a gun- free zone around every school in this country.
I think that measures like these are important, child safety trigger locks on a mandatory basis, and others.
LEHRER: Governor.
BUSH: Well, it starts with enforcing law. We need to say loud and clear to somebody, "If you're going to carry a gun illegally, we're going to arrest you. If you're going to sell a gun illegally, you're going to be arrested. And if you commit a crime with a gun," there needs to be absolute certainty in the law.
And that means that the local law enforcement officials need help at the federal law, need programs like Project Exile where the federal government intensifies arresting people who
illegally use guns. And we haven't done a very good job of that at the federal level recently. And I'm going to make it a priority.
Secondly, I don't think we ought to be selling guns to people who shouldn't have them. That's why I support instant background checks at gun shows. One of the reasons we have an instant background check is so that we instantly know whether or not someone should have a gun or not.
In Texas, I tried to do something innovatively, which is that, you know, there's a lot of talk about, you know, trigger locks being on guns sold in the future. I support that.
But I said, listen, if you want a trigger lock to make your gun safe, come to -- come and get one for free.
BUSH: And so we're distributing in our state of Texas for free. I think we ought to raise the age at which a juvenile can carry a handgun from 18 to 21.
I disagree with the vice president on this issue: I don't -- he's for registration of guns. I think the only people that are going to show to register or get a license -- I get licensing, like a driver's license, of a gun -- the only people who are going to show up are law-abiding citizens. The criminal's not going to show up and say, "Hey, give me my ID card." It's the law-abiding citizens who will do that. And I -- I just -- I don't think that's going to be an effective tool to make the -- keep our society safe.
LEHRER: All right. So on guns, somebody wants to cast a vote based on your differences, where are the differences?
GORE: Well, I'm not for registration. I am for licensing by states of new handgun purchases so that...
LEHRER: What does that do? What's that's mean?
GORE: A photo license ID, like a driver's license, for new handguns. And, you know, the Los Angeles...
LEHRER: Excuse me. You would have to get the license -- a photo ID to go in and before you could buy the gun?
GORE: Correct.
LEHRER: All right.
GORE: At the time.
LEHRER: And who would issue -- who would issue the...
GORE: The state. The state. I think states should do that for new handguns because too many criminals are getting guns. There was a recent investigation of the number in Texas who got -- who were given concealed weapon permits in spite of the fact that they had records, and the Los Angeles Times spent a lot of ink going into that.
But I am not for doing anything that would affect hunters or sportsmen, rifles, shotguns, existing handguns. I do think that sensible gun safety measures are warranted now.
GORE: Look, this is the year -- this is in the aftermath of Columbine and Paducah and all of the places around our country where the nation has been shocked by these weapons in the hands of the wrong people.
The woman who bought the guns for the two boys who did that killing at Columbine said that if she had had to give her name and fill out a form there, she would not have bought those guns. That conceivably could have prevented that tragedy.
LEHRER: Back to the question about the differences on gun control, what are they, Governor, from your point of view, between you and the vice president?
BUSH: Well, I'm not for -- I'm not for photo-licensing.
But let me say something about Columbine. And listen, we've got gun laws. He says we ought to have gun-free schools. Everybody believes that. I'm sure every state in the union has got them. You can't carry a gun into a school, and there ought to be a consequence when you do carry a gun into a school.
But Columbine spoke to a larger issue, and it's really a matter of culture. It's a culture that somewhere along the line we begun to disrespect life, where a child can walk in and have their heart turn dark as a result of being on the Internet and walk in and decide to take somebody else's life.
So gun laws are important, no question about it, but so is loving children and character education classes and faith-based programs being a part of after-school programs. Somebody -- some desperate child, it needs to have somebody put their arm around them and say, "We love you."
And so there's a -- this is a society that -- of ours that's got to do a better job of teaching children right from wrong.
BUSH: And we can enforce law. But there seems to be a lot of preoccupation on, not necessarily in this debate, but just in general on law.
But there's a larger law: Love your neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourself. And that's where our society must head if we're going to be a peaceful and prosperous society.
GORE: I also believe in the Golden Rule, and I agree with a lot of the other things that the governor has said.
We do have a serious problem in our culture. Tipper and I have worked on the problem of violence and entertainment aimed at children. She's worked on it longer than I have, but I feel very strongly about that. And if I'm elected president, I will do something about that. But I think that we -- I think we have to start with better parenting.
But I don't think that we can ignore the role played by guns. I mean, the fact is that even though no states wants them, there are guns in some schools. And the reason it's so difficult for schools to control that is because in recent years there has been a flood of cheap handguns that are so widely available that kids are finding ways to get a hold of them.
And I think that if you look at the situation as it exists here in the United States compared to any other country in the world, it seems to me pretty obvious that while we respect the rights of hunters and sportsmen, we do need some common-sense gun safety steps to stem this flood of guns that are getting into the wrong hands.
BUSH: Yes. No question about that, but there's also needs to be strong enforcement of the law. Some kid who feels like they can -- it doesn't matter where the gun comes from; it can be a cheap gun, expensive gun. What matters is, something in this person's head says there's not going to be a consequence.
BUSH: So in my state, we toughened up the juvenile justice laws. We added beds. We're tough. We believe in tough love. We say, if you get caught carrying a gun, you're automatically detained. And that's what needs to happen.
And we've got laws. If laws need to be strengthened like instant background checks, that's important.
I told Bush I was voting for him this time. He better not touch our second amendment rights! 