Clinton implores Colorado voters to take action on gun show loophole

Columbine anniversary likely to pass without congressional action

April 12, 2000
Web posted at: 5:01 p.m. EDT (2101 GMT)

DENVER (CNN) -- With legislation to close the so-called gun show loophole bogged down in Congress one week before the first anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings, President Clinton on Wednesday encouraged Colorado voters to push for a state ballot initiative requiring background checks on gun purchasers at flea-market style gun shows.

"The main thing you've got to do is win here," Clinton implored the audience of about 3,000 gun-control advocates inside the Colorado Convention Center. "Other states will follow your lead. I hope and pray Congress will follow your lead as well."

The Colorado initiative -- sponsored by Sane Alternative to the Firearms Epidemic (SAFE), a group formed in the aftermath of the Columbine shootings, which ocurred in the Denver suburb of Littleton -- would require mandatory background checks for buyers at all gun shows, and impose criminal misdemeanor penalties for vendors who ignore the law.

Under current federal law, unlicensed dealers may sell firearms in private transactions without subjecting the buyers to background checks.

The proposal needs 62,000 signatures to make it onto the ballot, but is strongly opposed by the National Rifle Association (NRA) and other gun lobbying organizations.

"Reducing gun violence is a national challenge," Clinton said. "I came here first to say I support what you're doing. In spite of all the attempts to put road blocks in your way, you must not be deterred."

Shortly after the remarks were underway, Clinton was interrupted by a shouting protester who waved a cardboard sign that read: "Guns do kill children" on one side and "U.S. sanctions kill Iraqi children" on the other.

"Sir, this meeting is not about you and not about me, so would you please let me give my speech?" Clinton retorted. The man was booed and heckled by the crowd before being led away by security guards.

Clinton: longer background checks will save lives

Clinton resumed his speech by citing White House figures on gun show sales. Every year, an estimated 5 million people attend more than 4,400 shows across the United States. As many as 50 percent of the dealers at those shows are not licensed by the federal government and many of those do not require mandatory background checks.

President Clinton spoke Wednesday in Denver.

Requiring all dealers to conduct background checks is the current sticking point between House and Senate negotiators in Congress. House Republicans last year pushed through legislation that would require 24-hour background checks at shows, less than the Senate-passed mandate of 72 hours.

Clinton argued that 95 percent of all background checks can be completed within one day. "The five percent that can't be done in a day should still be done ... because they are 20 times more likely to be rejected because of a criminal background or another problem."

"I think it's worth a little bit of inconvenience to save a few thousand lives over the next few years," he added.

The two teenaged gunmen in the Columbine shooting, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, acquired weapons from an acquaintance who bought them with ease at a gun show.

Tom Mauser, a founding member of SAFE, whose son Daniel was one of the 12 students gunned down by Harris and Klebold, insisted that the group's efforts went far beyond the scope of Columbine and other school shootings.

"This movement is not about one tragedy, because we lose 12 kids to gun shots everyday in this country. That's what this movement is about. We lose too many," Mauser said as he introduced Clinton.

Pro-gun groups protest Clinton visit

Yet as Mauser and Clinton addressed the audience, some 200 pro-gun advocates demonstrated outside the venue, chanting "We will not disarm," among other slogans.

Several carried signs that read, "Rapists Fear Gun Rights," "It's the criminals, stupid," and "Sensible gun laws, stick them in your loophole." Others distributed copies of the Constitution, calling it their "gun permit."

"The anti-gun people are pushing legislation down our throats," said Steve Cordova, who said he joined a gun rights group after his daughter escaped from Columbine during last year's rampage.

The president attended a town-hall style meeting later Wednesday in a bid to garner more bipartisan support for the ballot initiative. Among the notable Republicans supporting the measure is Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, who nonetheless declined to attend the SAFE rally.

"I do hope that he doesn't politicize a Colorado issue, and get involved in something that ought to be up to Coloradans to vote and agree on," said Owens, referring to Clinton's visit.

The White House had set the Columbine anniversary on April 20 as a deadline for Congress to pass new gun legislation, but acknowledges that the target date is probably not feasible.

In addition to a minimum 72-hour waiting period at gun shows, Clinton has called for provisions that would require child safety locks on new handguns and a ban on the import of large-capacity ammunition clips.

Hatch urged to take action

The White House -- which has repeatedly accused the NRA of pressuring lawmakers to stall progress on the gun show provisions, as well as the underlying, more comprehensive juvenile justice bill -- pointed to evidence Wednesday that the gun lobby is losing its influence on the issue.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Illinois) and ranking Democrat John Conyers (Michigan) sent a letter requesting a meeting as soon as possible with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) to discuss the stalled legislation.

Hatch heads up the House-Senate conference committee responsible for hashing out a compromise juvenile justice bill. Hyde and Conyers acknowledged that differences remain over the issue of waiting periods for gun-show background checks, but with a succession of gun violence tragedies across the country "it is clear that the nation would like Congress to respond."

Frustration with Congress had led Clinton to embark on a new state-by-state strategy to pass gun control provision.

On Tuesday, he stood by in Annapolis as Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening (D) signed a law making that state the first to require built-in locks on handguns while imposing other stringent gun control laws.

"I hope the United States Congress is paying attention to this event today, because every child in America deserves the protection that Maryland children will be given today," the president said.

The president's attendance at the event marked the first time he has witnessed a state-level signing ceremony.

Written by Michael Ferullo