Political Quotes

“I grew up on a ranch near San Juan Bautista, CA. I was taught to shoot at a very young age. If the guns we are banning in this particular piece of legislation had been in existence, any hunter that used them to shoot a deer or to shoot at rabbits, would have been laughed out of San Benito County. I now live in urban America. My policy consistently has been if you want a gun in your home, have one in your home. If you want a gun at your business, have one at your business. However, if you have a gun in a car and you are driving around urban America, as far as I am concerned, you better have a permit or off to jail you go. You should live in urban America, where we have people shot by the thousands, by teenagers, by young hoods, from all walks of life and all ethnic groups. I happen to have taken a stand against assault weapons several years ago. It was in the Republican primary. My seven opponents got up and parroted the NRA. I won. I remember an issues survey we did of Republicans during the 1992 primary. That survey cost $10,000. One of the questions was on banning guns, on banning assault weapons. Sixty-five percent of the Republicans in my district favored that ban. I suggest that a few of my colleagues ought to get in touch with what the grassroots in urban and suburban America really thinks.”