Bill Clinton: “Well, I think that a lot of them who represent rural districts, where there are a lot of gun owners, know that in 1994…”

“Well, I think that a lot of them who represent rural districts, where there are a lot of gun owners, know that in 1994 the NRA beat somewhere between 12 and 20 of our Members. I mean, let's just put it--and they did it by scaring legitimate gun owners into thinking the Brady bill and the assault weapons ban were going to do terrible things to them and would do no good in fighting crime. But 5 years later, I'd like to point out, number one, it didn't do terrible things to legitimate gun owners. Number two, it kept 400,000 guns out of the wrong hands. And number three, the country has moved on this; rural people have moved on this. And Littleton galvanized the country. This is crazy for the United States to be the only advanced country in the world that doesn't take comprehensive, sensible, thorough steps to keep handguns out of the hands of criminals. It's just--it doesn't make any sense. So I think that--my belief is that if a Member in a difficult district is willing to cast this vote and then aggressively defend it, there will be no losses. In fact, they will be rewarded for doing this, even in the difficult districts, in 2000. But I have told them all--you know, I've had very honest, non-pressure-oriented conversations. This is something I care deeply about. I come from a State where this is a big issue. I was profoundly proud that every Southern Democrat voted to close the gun show loophole in the United States Senate. And that means not only that they know it's the right thing to do; it means that they're confident they can go home to our part of the country and defend it. And I believe that. And I don't believe--again, I don't believe this is a big partisan issue anywhere but Washington. I think that's at least like the Patients' Bill of Rights. I think--you know, I had a friend of mine from the Intermountain West in Washington last week, whose brother owns an arsenal of weapons, literally, including semi-automatic weapons. He's a big collector of guns. And his brother, he sent me a message, he said, ``You know, this ought to be passed. I keep my guns locked. I'm trained to use them. I'm careful about them. I don't want anybody to have any of this stuff they shouldn't have. And this is wrong.'' So I think that serious--I'm amazed by how many people have called into the White House on our comment line and identified themselves as NRA members, identified themselves as Republicans, who disagree with me on my things, encouraging us to go forward on this. The country has moved on this. And everybody knows that the only way anyone can get beat on this is if the facts are misrepresented to the voters. Now, there were some voters that were in a--they weren't in a most positive frame of mind in '94, anyway. But the public is in a positive frame of mind now. They know our economy is working. They know our crime rate is down. They know our welfare rolls are down. They know our social problems are diminishing. And they are profoundly moved by what happened at Littleton. They don't want these children to have died for nothing. And this should not be a partisan issue. There are some people, like Mr. Dingell, who honestly disagree. They ought to have a chance to vote their convictions. But you know and I know and everybody that covers the Congress knows that the overwhelming majority of the Congress believes that if we close the gun show loophole, that we'll keep more guns out of the hands of criminals; we'll save more lives; and we won't inconvenience legitimate gun owners. Everybody knows that's the truth on the merits. So I just pray that they'll go in there and vote on the merits. Then if they'll defend their votes in the election, none of them, Republicans or Democrats, will be defeated. Thank you.”