[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 24 (Monday, June 21, 1999)]
[Pages 1128-1130]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Gun Control Legislation and an Exchange With Reporters in 
Paris

June 17, 1999

    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 every 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

[[Page 1129]]

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 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 gunowners, 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 gunowners 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 gunowners. 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 
no 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

[[Page 1130]]

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 bead 
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.

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.