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Sunday Morning News

Where Do Presidential Candidates Truly Stand on Gun Control?

Aired May 14, 2000 - 9:34 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: What to do about guns in private hands is a forefront issue this election year, the issue is what's drawing tens of thousands of people to today's Million Mom March.

But as CNN's Jonathan Karl reports, many voters still may not be clear on how the presidential candidates line up on gun control.

CNN congressional correspondent Jonathan Karl has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's the National Rifle Association's favorite presidential candidate. But as George W. Bush marches to the political center, he is portraying himself as a moderate on gun control.

GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would work to have an instant background check law in the federal government. I think there needs to be one.

KARL: Like the NRA, Bush says the solution to gun violence is to enforce current laws, not pass new ones. But he says he would support some new gun restrictions, including raising the legal age for handgun possession from 18 to 21, a move opposed by the NRA, requiring child safety locks on new guns, and maintaining the federal ban on assault weapons. The NRA wants the ban repealed.

Gun control advocates favor those measures, but...

MIKE BARNES, HANDGUN CONTROL, INC.: If he's learning that the American people do want common sense gun safety laws, that's great. Unfortunately, his record in Texas is just atrocious.

KARL: Although Bush now says he wants to raise the federal age for handgun possession, he never did it in Texas. The state still has no age requirement for gun possession. Instead, Bush won plaudits from the NRA for signing pro-gun measures, including a 1995 law legalizing the possession of concealed weapons. Two years later, Bush signed an amendment extending the right to carry guns into churches and amusement parks that don't ban them.

Bush also signed a law banning cities from suing gun companies without going through the state's attorney general.

BUSH: I've never been a member of the NRA. Now, let me -- I think Al Gore's been a member of the NRA, if I'm not mistaken.

KARL: Asked the next day where he got that information, Bush said...

BUSH: A little birdie.

KARL: The birdie may have been wrong. Nobody has produced evidence that Gore ever belonged to the NRA. But Gore too has a record that does not square with his current views on guns.

WAYNE LAPIERRE, NRA EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT: I kind of shake my head at Al Gore. When he was in the U.S. Senate, he voted with the NRA on every single vote he ever cast. I mean, he used to call us up, we used to have meetings. We contributed to him.

KARL: As a representative from Tennessee, Gore consistently voted against gun restrictions, including one to require serial numbers on guns so they could be traced. Gore's aides say he was simply reflecting the views of those in his rural conservative district.

But Gore's pro-gun positions continued after he was elected to the Senate in 1984. In 1985, he voted for the Firearm Owners Protection Act, which, among other things, eased restrictions on interstate gun sales.

AL GORE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Senate being equally divided, the vice president votes in the affirmative, and the amendment is agreed to.

KARL: But for more than a decade, Gore has been a vocal gun control advocate, casting a tie-breaking vote on the issue in the Senate last year, and now he favors more restrictions, including mandatory photo licenses for gun purchases. Most prominent gun control advocates acknowledge that Gore is a convert to their issue, but they now consider him a true believer.

(on camera): Democrats hope to make Governor Bush pay a price for his ties to the NRA, but that may not work. In the latest CNN- "USA Today" Gallup poll, a majority of likely voters said they have a favorable opinion of the NRA.

Jonathan Karl, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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