[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
[June 17, 1999]
[Pages 957-959]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 957]]


Remarks on Gun Control Legislation and an Exchange With Reporters in 
Paris
June 17, 1999

    The President. I would just like to make a brief statement. Sometime 
today the United States Congress will be called upon to vote on whether 
to close the gun show loophole. It seems to me there's a very simple, 
direct question. If we close the loophole and do background checks in a 
comprehensive fashion at the gun shows, will we succeed, as we have with 
the Brady bill, in keeping more guns out of the hands of criminals and 
others who shouldn't have them--at very little inconvenience to 
legitimate gun owners?
    The answer to that question is yes. Everyone knows the answer to 
that question is yes. Therefore, I hope that this vote will be cast by 
Congress in the spirit that has gripped the country after the tragedy at 
Littleton, thinking about those children and other children that we can 
still save.
    Once again, I think that the gun lobby is just wrong about this. And 
we've seen several gun manufacturers come forward and say that the gun 
show loophole ought to be closed. We've seen several individual 
Republicans, and members of the NRA, come forward and say this. They're 
just wrong here. And I hope and pray that Congress will do the right 
thing.
    Q. Mr. President, have you talked to Mr. Dingell, and why is he 
doing this to the Democrats?
    The President. I don't think he thinks 
he's doing this to the Democrats. I believe that this is something on 
which we have a profound disagreement on. I believe that John Dingell 
believes he's doing the right thing. But I know that most Members of 
Congress in both parties agree that the gun show loophole, if closed, 
would keep more guns out of the hands of criminals. That's what they 
think. And of course, we have about 80 percent of the Democrats in favor 
of this, maybe more, maybe 90 percent--I don't know, but way the vast 
majority. And most of the Republicans are voting the other way, the vast 
majority. They feel a certain amount of gratitude to the NRA for putting 
them in the majority in the House in the first place, by frightening 
people over the Brady bill and the assault weapons ban. And I understand 
that.
    But now we've got 5 years of experience with the Brady bill and the 
assault weapons ban. All lawful gun owners can still go hunting, can 
still engage in sport shooting, but we kept 400,000 guns out of the 
wrong hands with the Brady bill. And now they know that a lot of people 
with criminal backgrounds are trying to get guns at gun shows and flea 
markets and things of that kind. It is time to close the loophole. It's 
a simple, simple, straightforward question on the merits. And if 
everyone voted on the merits it would carry by 80 percent. And I think 
we all know that.

NATO-Russia Negotiations on Kosovo

    Q. Mr. President, can you report any progress at all in the talks 
with the Russians and resolving the situation of their role in Kosovo?
    The President. I just got an update. They're still talking. We 
haven't resolved all the issues, but they have made pretty good progress 
today. I'm pleased, and I would urge them to keep working, and I think 
we'll bring this to a successful conclusion in the next little while--
the next day or so I think we'll get it worked out. There has been 
progress today. I'm pleased with that.
    Q. Does that progress relate to control of the airport?
    The President. I think that until we have it all worked out--I don't 
want to get into what's been done and what hasn't. But I have--I can 
tell you that there has been substantive progress on very important 
issues. We've still got, I think, maybe just one issue, maybe two to 
resolve. But we're making progress. Everybody is working in good faith, 
and I expect it to be done.
    Q. When do you think it will get worked out?
    The President. Soon. They know we don't have a lot of time, and they 
know that we need to be--all of us need to be putting all of our 
energies on rapid, comprehensive deployment so that we can provide 
security to everyone and begin to work on building the institutions of 
civil government in Kosovo that will treat all the citizens of Kosovo in 
a fair and equitable

[[Page 958]]

way. And the quicker we get to work on that, the better.
    Now, we're doing that now. We've got, as I said, we've got--I told 
you today, earlier, we've gotten 15,000 of our troops in there; we're 
deploying as rapidly as we can. We've been working like crazy on this 
mine problem; we don't want to lose any more of the refugees coming 
home, to landmines. They desperately want to come home. They love their 
country. They want to be there. And so that's what I want us to focus 
on. That's what I want all of us to focus on.
    We had a very, very good partnership with the Russians in Bosnia, 
and I think once these agreements are made, people on all sides will 
keep all the commitments, and we'll have a good partnership here.

Gun Control Legislation

    Q. Mr. President, you said several times today that the gun vote is 
difficult for many Members. You've been talking to Members, presumably 
to Democrats it's most hard for. Why is it so hard for them? What are 
they telling you?
    The President. 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

[[Page 959]]

election, none of them, Republicans or Democrats, will be defeated.
    Thank you.

Note: The exchange began at 6:03 p.m. at the U.S. Ambassador's 
residence. In his remarks, the President referred to Representative John 
D. Dingell. A tape was not available for verification of the content of 
this exchange.