``He's willing to accept a certain level of killing to further his political agenda -- and the vice president too, I mean, how else can you explain this dishonesty we get out of the administration,'' LaPierre said.
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Monday, March 13, 2000
NRA Says Clinton Uses Violence for Political Gain
By Arshad Mohammed
Sunday March 12 5:09 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leading U.S. gun lobby group accused President Clinton on Sunday of deliberately failing to enforce existing gun control laws and of exploiting the resulting violence for political gain.
The comments by a top National Rifle Association official drew a rebuke from the White House, which said the NRA had a long history of rejecting gun control and that its views should not be taken seriously in the current debate over new measures, including a three-day waiting period for gun show purchases.
``I've come to believe he needs a certain level of violence in this country,'' NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre told ABC's ``This Week'' program.
``He's willing to accept a certain level of killing to further his political agenda -- and the vice president too, I mean, how else can you explain this dishonesty we get out of the administration,'' LaPierre said.
``You can't care about stopping crimes with guns and give the country a complete lack of enforcement of the gun laws on the books, which is what this president has done,'' he added.
White House spokesman Joe Lockhart shot back by referring to a string of earlier gun control measures opposed by the NRA. The White House has also long denied it has failed to enforce existing gun laws.
``These are the same people that opposed the Brady Bill ... restrictions on assault weapons and cop killer bullets,'' Lockhart said. ``Just ask a cop on the street who is on their side. The NRA should not be taken seriously. They have eliminated themselves from any role in this debate.''
The harsh rhetoric shows how high the stakes are as Clinton seeks to push gun control legislation after a string of school shootings, including a Feb. 29 incident in which a six-year-old Michigan boy killed a girl the same age with a stolen handgun.
In a television interview and a rare Sunday speech, Clinton called on the Republican-led Congress to mandate a three-day waiting period for gun show purchases, child-safety trigger locks and a ban on importing high-capacity ammunition clips through legislation approved by the U.S. Senate last year.
A less stringent version of the bill passed in the House of Representatives and Clinton said the two have yet to hammer out a compromise because of pressure from the gun lobby.
``Knee-Jerk Nra Reaction''
``I just think their knee-jerk reaction to any gun safety measure is wrong,'' Clinton told ABC's ``This Week'' program in an interview taped on Friday in which he also accused the NRA of being ``ruthlessly brutal'' to gun control advocates.
The president last week asked the Republican leaders of Congress to find a compromise on the gun control legislation by April 20, the anniversary of the 1999 killings at Littleton, Colorado's Columbine High School, where two teen-agers killed 12 fellow students, a teacher and themselves.''
The NRA has fought hard against elements of the legislation and has begun running television advertisements featuring its president, actor Charlton Heston, in which he all but accuses Clinton of being a liar.
``All this sort of wounded rhetoric by the NRA, given how ruthlessly brutal they were to members who were brave enough to vote for the Brady Bill and the assault weapons ban ... these crocodile tears, I don't think it will wash with the voters. Even with Moses reading the script,'' Clinton said, referring to Heston's famous portrayal of Moses in ``The Ten Commandments.''
The Brady Bill, passed in 1994, required a five-day waiting period for handgun purchasers until it expired in November 1998 and was replaced by a computerized checking system requiring a three-day delay in the purchase if a red-flag warning appeared.
Clinton later suggested the conference committee named to work out differences between the House and Senate versions of last year's gun control bills had not met because legislators feared a backlash from voters if they killed the legislation.
``Those who don't want any legislation don't want to get caught killing it,'' Clinton told several thousand officials gathered for a conference organized by the National League of Cities. ``This is wrong. This is wrong.''
The president also lambasted Congress for a failed attempt to block nearly $2.6 million in funding for a gun buyback program, which gives local authorities money to buy guns with no questions asked and then destroy them.
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