National Rifle Association Executive President Wayne LaPierre’s recent blowup at President Clinton is a headline writer’s dream.
How about:
“NRA TOP GUN SHOOTS OFF MOUTH TOO MUCH?”
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“NRA HEAD TRIGGERS BLOW UP?”
“NRA VOLLEY BACKFIRES, SHOOTS SELF IN FOOT?”
What better way to describe statements that have allies like presidential aspirant George W. Bush and other leading Republicans running the other way to avoid any connection?
It was bad enough for LaPierre to say on ABC’s “This Week with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts” that President Clinton was “willing to accept a certain level of killing” to keep the issue of gun control alive.
But LaPierre was just getting warmed up. A few days later he further asserted that Clinton had “blood on his hands” because of last year’s murder of Ricky Byrdsong, the former Northwestern University basketball coach. Byrdsong was murdered last year in front of his children near his north suburban Chicago home by white supremacist Benjamin Smith, who later killed himself in a racially motivated murder-suicide spree.
What? Clinton in cahoots with white supremacist killers? Stop the presses!
But, no, LaPierre was engaging in the time-tested Washington art of spin. He was putting a new wrinkle on the old NRA argument that we don’t need more regulations of guns, we only need better enforcement of existing laws.
Had Smith been arrested after he failed to pass a background check for an attempted gun purchase, LaPierre reasoned, Smith could not have committed his murders.
But LaPierre did not mention Smith later purchased a gun from an unlicensed dealer who bought 65 handguns from one store over the course of two years then resold them through classified ads. If that dealer’s gun purchases had been limited to one a month nationwide, the way purchases are regulated in Maryland and Virginia, Smith might have had a more difficult time making his illegal purchase. Unfortunately, while one gun purchase per month is plenty for most legitimate gun users, it is not enough for the NRA.
With that, we see the flaw in the NRA’s position. The need for better enforcement of existing laws does not necessarily mean we do not need more laws.
Besides, the feds have not been sitting on their hands. Although some 200,000 gun buyers have been turned away since computerized checks began in 1998, the primary enforcement responsibility lies with the 26 states, including Illinois, that have their own background checks. Since the Smith tragedy, Illinois has improved its procedures for referring cases to federal agents.
Clinton has asked Congress for additional funds to add 500 agents to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms , but the current Congress’ interests in small government, particularly when it comes to gun-law enforcement, seem to have gotten in the way.
Even so, despite the NRA’s victories in lobbying Congress, LaPierre appears to be feeling the heat stirred up by high-profile tragedies. The recent killing of a 6-year-old girl by a 6-year-old boy in Michigan has energized public support for the gun bill spurred by last year’s massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado.
George W. Bush and other leading Republicans were galloping backwards to distance themselves from LaPierre’s imprudent remarks about Clinton. Many also softened their criticism of the gun bill, which calls for such reforms as mandatory trigger locks and a waiting period of three business days for weapon purchases at gun shows.
One notable example was Rep. J.C. Watts, chairman of the Republican Conference, the No. 4 post in the party’s House leadership. Although he has been a celebrity endorser in past NRA ads, he joined more than 40 Republicans Wednesday in voting for a non-binding resolution urging negotiators from the House and Senate to meet and hammer out a compromise on the bill.
The gun measure’s most controversial item is the gun-show waiting period. Watts, like many Republicans, has supported a waiting period of only 24 hours. The NRA generally opposes any inconvenience to gun-show purchasers.
Republicans remained quite unified in criticizing House Democratic leader Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri for holding out so Democrats can use the issue in next November’s elections. At least they didn’t accuse him of being an accessory to murder.
Watts would like for people “be civilized” about this debate, a spokesman said. He’s not alone. But LaPierre was not apologizing. An NRA spokesman said the organization has gained more membership applications as a result of latest controversy.
Gee, I guess Clinton and Gephardt are not the only ones who want to keep this issue alive.
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