[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 11 (Monday, March 20, 2000)]
[Pages 520-524]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Interview With Sam Donaldson of ABC's ``This Week''

March 10, 2000

Gun Control Legislation

    Mr. Donaldson. Mr. President, thank you very much for letting us 
come over and talk to you today. You know, among your top legislative 
priorities, everyone understands, is gun control. You want trigger 
safety locks; you want a 3-day waiting period for the sale at gun shows; 
you want photo ID's, among other things. Going to be tough to get?
    The President. It's tough to get. We were able to get the Brady bill 
passed in '93 and the assault weapons ban in '94. And unfortunately, 
several of the Members who voted for those were defeated because they 
did. But it's a safer country because of that.
    We've had half a million people who couldn't buy handguns because 
they were felons, fugitives, or stalkers, and we've got the gun death 
rate down to a 30-year low. So I think nearly everybody who looked at it 
thinks we ought to close the gun show loophole and require child safety 
locks on guns and ban the importation of these large ammunition clips. I 
hope we can do that.
    Mr. Donaldson. The NRA says that the gun manufacturers have trigger 
locks now. They say all of the guns being manufactured in this country, 
the handguns, have the trigger locks. So what's the big deal?
    The President. They don't all, actually; most of them do. We've 
worked with a lot of the gun manufacturers, and they deserve a lot of 
credit. And for the first time, they really showed some genuine 
independence from the NRA line that nothing ever needs to be done, ever. 
And they came up with the child trigger locks.
    What our legislation would do would be to require the manufacturers 
to do it. And I would also like to see them make those available to 
retrofit guns, because a lot of people who have guns now in their homes 
would like to buy them, would like to protect them in that way. But I 
think that it would be important.
    But closing the gun show loophole is really important because a lot 
of people who now know they will be checked in gun stores can go to the 
urban flea markets or to the gun shows and buy a gun and have no 
background check whatever. And I think it's a big
mistake.
    Mr. Donaldson. Well, of course the NRA says, ``We're for that. We're 
for an instant check at gun shows.'' And they say, ``The Congress 
appropriated money for you to put into the system so that the insta-
check, just like our credit cards, can go through.'' And they say, ``Why 
hasn't he done it?''
    The President. Well, not all the records are subject to insta-check. 
For example, we offer, by the way--most of their allies in Congress want 
a 24-hour, not a 72-hour waiting period at gun shows. And there's 
something to be said for that if it's a weekend show and the people are 
moving on to somewhere else, and all that. So what we offered them was, 
okay, 24 hours for every one you can check in 24 hours, but over 90 
percent of them you can check in 24 hours. But for those you can't check 
because of some problem with it, we ought to be able to hold them up to 
3 days, because the ones that don't check out in 24 hours are 20 times 
more likely to be rejected because of the problems with the background.
    So I think we can work this out. You know, when I brought the 
Congress in there the other day, the Republican leader in the House, Mr. 
Hyde, and the Democratic leader, Mr. Conyers, had competing proposals 
that were much closer together than the rhetoric of the debate would 
suggest. So I'm still hoping we can work this out.
    I think it's fine to let the ones go in 24 hours if you can do the 
check. But if there is some problem with the records, getting the 
records, there ought to be some provision to deposit the gun in a 
neutral place, like the local sheriff's office or something, and finish 
the check.
    Mr. Donaldson. When it comes to photo ID's, the NRA says what they 
say of a lot of your proposals. That is, the criminals are not going to 
line up; the criminals are not going to come in and say, ``Take my 
picture;

[[Page 521]]

here's my picture.'' It's the law-abiding citizen that you're going to 
penalize, who is not going to misuse that gun with all of this stuff.
    The President. First of all, under my proposal, they would only do 
it as they buy new handguns, where they would get a photo ID license for 
showing that you passed a background check and they'd taken a safety 
course.
    Now, therefore, that would make it even less likely that people with 
criminal backgrounds would try to buy handguns. And I think over the 
long run, licensing handgun owners is no more unreasonable than 
licensing people that drive cars, licensing people that do any number of 
other things, licensing people who want to go hunting or fishing. I 
don't think there's a thing in the world wrong with it, and I think it 
will help make us a safer society.
    Mr. Donaldson. I can't help but remember the little dust-up you had 
with my colleague Charlie Gibson, who said, ``Well, how about 
registration? I mean, why aren't you for that?'' Have you changed your 
mind about that since Kayla Rolland and these other terrible tragedies?
    The President. One of the things that I think--the argument for 
registration, of course, is that it would make it easier to trace these 
guns through their various incarnations, and I think you can make a 
strong argument for it. What I have said is that--look, I can't even 
pass a bill closing the gun show loophole through this Congress. If the 
people want more done, I think that should be heavily debated in this 
Presidential election.
    The Vice President and Governor Bush are from dramatically different 
positions on the whole issue of guns, and I think it ought to be a big 
issue in the Presidential elections, because it's one of the things that 
will determine the shape of 21st century America--how we handle safety, 
whether we keep bringing crime down.
    But right now, I think it will be a great thing if we can close the 
gun show loophole, ban the big ammunition clips, require the child 
safety locks, and require licensing for new handgun owners, including 
photo ID's and Brady background checks and a training course, safety 
training course.
    Mr. Donaldson. But, of course the gun that killed Kayla Rolland, I 
think, was a .32. Apparently, it had been in the home, for some time, of 
the little boy who used it. None of this would have stopped that.
    The President. Well, one thing that might do something was another 
provision that I asked the Congress to pass--that I asked them again to 
pass--which is to impose upon adults some responsibility for gun crimes 
committed by young children if the adults knowingly or recklessly 
permitted the child to get a hold of the gun. I think that should be a 
part of the law.
    Now, some people say, ``Oh, we shouldn't federalize the criminal 
laws; the States ought to do this.'' About 17 States have. So what I 
would--maybe if they don't want to do that, we ought to give some States 
some incentives to adopt these laws on their own. But it is wrong for 
adults to leave guns lying around that 6-year-olds can use to kill other 
6-year-olds or to kill themselves, which is what most normally happens.
    If people are going to have handguns in their homes, they should be 
rigorously secured and protected. And if they don't have these child 
trigger locks because they bought them before the child trigger locks 
were provided, they ought to have to lock them up someplace where the 
kids can't reach.
    In addition--we're talking mostly now about killing. But the 
accidental gun death rate of children under 15 is 9 times higher in the 
United States--9 times higher--than that of the next 24 biggest 
industrial countries combined. So I think there ought to be some 
responsibility on adults to keep these guns away from children. And that 
would make a difference.

Juvenile Gun Offenders

    Mr. Donaldson. By the way, the last time you and I talked about this 
was after Jonesboro, and one of those shooters there was, I think, 11 
years of age. Now, we have a child, 6 years of age. What should we do 
about that child, that little kid?
    The President. Well, first, I think that what happens to this child 
in terms of custody--who has custody over this child; where is this 
child going to go--ought to be very

[[Page 522]]

carefully debated. Apparently, he was in miserable circumstances. I 
think that in addition to that, he's clearly below the age of criminal 
responsibility.
    Mr. Donaldson. We can't punish that 6-year-old, can we?
    The President. No, but he--human nature being what it is, he will 
probably wind up punishing himself as time goes on and he comes to 
realize what he's done.
    Mr. Donaldson. And do you think people, as he grows up, will point 
at him and say, ``That was the boy who shot that little 6-year-old many 
years ago''?
    The President. If they know. But even if they don't, he'll know. 
He'll know. And one or two things will happen, unless he's very 
fortunate. Either he will grow up with no conscience because he won't be 
able to live with it, and then he'll repeat bad acts, or he'll grow up 
consumed with guilt for something that was beyond his ability to 
understand when he was 6. So that child is going to need a lot of help 
and needs to be in a more constructive upbringing.
    But look, all of our sympathies are with the child that was killed 
and with her family and to trying to prevent that. But the idea that 6-
year-olds can get a hold of guns is outrageous. And I think the adults 
should be held responsible in some way.

President's History With Guns

    Mr. Donaldson. By the way, do you own a gun today? You used to, I 
know.
    The President. Yes, but I don't have them here in the White House. I 
have owned guns. When I was a boy, I had a .22, when I was 12. And then 
I had a shotgun. And I've owned a handgun or two that have been given to 
me. But I've never kept them in the residence where my daughter slept.
    Mr. Donaldson. Do you still shoot them today?
    The President. No. When--I've gone hunting a few times since I've 
been President, but I've always just gone with friends and borrowed a 
shotgun.
    Mr. Donaldson. Recently?
    The President. When was the last time I went duck hunting? A couple 
of years ago, I guess.
    Mr. Donaldson. Well, we started by----
    The President. Let me say that I grew up in this culture. I've never 
called for banning guns, banning--I mean, I've never been against sport 
shooting. I believe that people ought to have the right to do these 
things. I even had a good relationship with the NRA at one time when I 
was Governor. They did a lot of good things in my State. They helped 
train people in gun safety courses, young hunters, for example. They 
helped to resolve property disputes in rural areas of my State, where we 
were worried about people hunting in various areas.
    I just think that their knee-jerk reaction to any gun safety measure 
is wrong. That's what I think is wrong. We can't pretend that America 
can have no prevention, that the only answer here is just to find 
whoever does something wrong and throw the book at them, but the last 
thing in the world we'll do is have any prevention. We were all raised 
to believe that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And 
this is the only area where we're told there must be no prevention. I 
just think that's wrong.

National Rifle Association

    Mr. Donaldson. Well, sir, you may have once had a good relationship 
with the NRA, but you don't have it today. I'm sure you're aware of the 
new television ads that they're running--Charlton Heston, himself, very 
effective--looks in the camera--and let me just read a portion of one of 
them. He says, ``Bill Clinton says the NRA stands in the way of sensible 
gun safety. But it was the NRA who pioneered the criminal background 
check on gun violence, not Bill Clinton.'' He goes on. But he concludes 
this way, sir: ``Mr. Clinton, when what you say is wrong, that's a 
mistake. When you know it's wrong, that's a lie.'' Now, that's tough. 
That's tough, sir.
    The President. True or false: The NRA was opposed to the Brady law. 
True. True or false: The NRA was opposed to the assault weapons ban. 
True. True or false: The NRA happily ended the congressional careers of 
brave Members of Congress of my party who stood up to them and voted for 
the Brady bill and the assault weapons ban. True.
    Now, they can say they pioneered background checks. That's a little 
sleight of hand, artful wording designed to cover up the fact

[[Page 523]]

that they were opposed to the Brady bill. They were opposed to measures 
that are necessary to, in fact, close the gun show loophole. They're 
saying, ``If you can do an insta-check, it's okay with us. So we don't 
mind you checking, as long as we're not put in any inconvenience 
whatever. But the public safety is not nearly as important as our
convenience.''
    Well, you know, we all go through these airport metal detectors all 
the time. And a lot of us have to go through two, three, four times if 
we have a money clip or something. And it's a minor inconvenience, but 
we like it because we all get to stay alive that way. My view is, I have 
not asked the hunters and sports people of this country, or the sellers 
at these gun shows, to undertake inordinate inconvenience, but some 
little inconvenience to preserve the public safety and to do more to 
keep guns out of the wrong hands.
    And all this sort of wounded rhetoric by the NRA, given how 
ruthlessly brutal they were to Members who were brave enough to vote for 
the Brady bill and the assault weapons ban is--these crocodile tears, I 
don't think it will wash with the voters. Even with Moses reading the 
script.
    Mr. Donaldson. I've been around a long time. I'm old enough to 
remember people calling Harry Truman, when he sat there, in this office, 
a Communist, and a lot of things. But I don't recall a series of well-
produced television ads which called the President of the United States 
a liar. How do you feel about that?
    The President. It's the way they've treated me for more than a 
decade. I remember in 1991 the NRA lobbyist in Arkansas came up to me 
and wanted me to sign a bill that would have prohibited any city in 
Arkansas from having gun control legislation stronger than the State 
had. Little Rock, at the time, was being deluged by these gang members 
coming back, serious weapons and cop-killer bullets. They didn't want 
cop-killer bullets banned--remember this is the same NRA. True or false: 
They didn't want cop-killer bullets banned. True. They didn't want to 
ban them.
    So I vetoed the bill. And this young NRA lobbyist, in the lobby of 
the State Capitol in Arkansas said, ``Governor, you're going to run for 
President in 1992. And if you veto this bill, we will wipe you out of 
Texas.'' And there were 50 people watching, just aghast that this 
lobbyist would talk to a Governor this way. And I knew I was growing up 
when I didn't hit him. I smiled, and I said, ``Young fellow, if that's 
the way you feel, you saddle up, you get your gun, I'll get mine, and 
I'll see you in Texas.'' The rest is history.
    They basically win through intimidation. People are scared of them.
    Mr. Donaldson. They have almost 3.5 million members.
    The President. Yes, but there's more people than that in America. 
And look, I think the reason that they intensely dislike me is because I 
have hunted in my life, because I'm not anti-gun, I'm not anti-
sportsperson, I'm not against the legitimate use of guns. And I actually 
give credit for the good things they've done in my experience.
    But they've got all these charts on the wall--they're domino theory 
people, you know--if you do one little thing that requires any 
accommodation to the public safety that requires any effort on the part 
of gun owners, they think it's the end of the world. And I just think 
that's wrong.
    Maybe technology will give us insta-checks for everything, but there 
are some of these mental health records you can't get instantly. There 
are some of the criminal records that are not accessible instantly. I 
offered them--let's go back to the facts here. Get out of the name-
calling and politics.
    More people stay alive if you can close the gun show loophole, just 
like more people are alive because we passed the Brady background check. 
When a half a million people can't get handguns because they're felons, 
fugitives, or stalkers, there are more people out there alive today. 
That's all that I care about. I don't want to get into name-calling with 
the NRA.
    Now, there's a big loophole. I would remind you the NRA--go back and 
look in '93, when we were trying to pass the Brady bill. They said, 
``Oh, the Brady bill won't do any good because all the criminals buy 
their guns somewhere else, at these gun shows or urban flea markets or 
out of the back of a pickup or the trunks of cars.'' So now that we want 
to close that loophole, oh, they don't want

[[Page 524]]

to do that. Or only if it's an insta-check so there's no inconvenience.
    Well, you can't get to all the records instantly. So I say, let's 
sit down and work this out so that there is a meaningful closing of the 
gun show loophole. That's all I care about. Then they--if we could do 
that, we save lives. They can call me anything they want and I'd be 
happy as a clam.

National Rifle Association's Debate Challenge

    Mr. Donaldson. Well, let's forget the name-calling. The NRA 
spokesman said to me, ``We'd like to debate President Clinton.'' Would 
you consider debating Charlton Heston on this issue? No name-calling, 
debate the issues.
    The President. Well, I'll tell you what I want to do. I want to see 
the issues debated in the Congress. We've had the debate. They came 
after me in '92; they came after me in '96; we had the debate. They came 
after the Congress in '94, and they won that one. They elected the 
Gingrich Congress with the Contract on America. They had a big role in 
it, because they scared all these hunters into believing I was going to 
take their guns away.
    By '96, the country knew that we were doing background checks and it 
was working pretty well, and nobody lost their guns. And I went to New 
Hampshire and said, ``You know, they told you I was going to take your 
gun away, and if you missed a day in deer season, I want you to vote 
against me. But if you didn't, they didn't tell you the truth, and you 
need to get even.'' And that's what happened.
    So they got rid of a Congressman in New Hampshire because he voted 
bravely for the Brady bill, and 2 years later they knew it was a bunch 
of hooey and they voted with me. So we've had these debates. What I want 
to see--I don't want to turn this into a circus. I want to turn this 
into saving lives. I don't want to take the extreme positions and the 
hot rhetoric.
    Henry Hyde, who basically represents a lot of their point of view, 
offered a way to try to close the gun show loophole. We thought there 
were serious problems with that, but it was a good-faith offer. So John 
Conyers made a counteroffer. Now, here is where the rhetoric is, way out 
here. Here's where the facts are, right here. And I was disappointed 
that Senator Hatch wouldn't agree to let them all get together and try 
to debate these two issues and try to resolve it.
    There's got to be a fix here that will save people's lives. That's 
the only thing that counts. Nothing else matters. The rest of this stuff 
is all politics; it's inside baseball.
    Mr. Donaldson. Mr. President, thanks very much.
    The President. Thank you.

Note: The interview began at 2:45 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House on March 10 for broadcast on March 12. In his remarks, the 
President referred to a 6-year-old Kayla Rolland, who was shot and 
mortally wounded by a 6-year-old classmate in Mount Morris Township, MI; 
Charlton Heston, president, National Rifle Association; and Gov. George 
W. Bush of Texas. The transcript of this interview was released by the 
Office of the Press Secretary on March 12. A tape was not available for 
verification of the content of this interview.