[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 15 (Monday, April 17, 2000)]
[Pages 793-796]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Gun Safety Rally in Denver, Colorado

April 12, 2000

    The President. Thank you. Thank you so very much for making me feel 
welcome. And I thank you for reminding me again what this is all about. 
I want to thank my long-time friend Wellington Webb for his leadership 
in this fight and his leadership of Denver. I thank Tom Mauser for 
having the courage not to be broken by his loss but to give his son the 
legacy he deserves.
    I thank John Head and Arnie Grossman for reminding us that this is 
not about party politics; it's about saving people's lives. And I also 
want to thank my longtime friend, your former Governor, Dick Lamm, who's 
here, and former Governor John Love, who's not here, for also reminding 
us this is not about party politics. I thank Attorney General Ken 
Salazar and Governor Bill Owens, who is also not here, but I want to 
thank them both for what they tried to do in the legislature and for 
what they're trying to do to help you pass this referendum.
    I want to thank the other SAFE board members who are here on stage. 
And I want to acknowledge--it's already been mentioned by Arnie, but I 
want to tell you that I had the privilege of meeting with the SAFE 
students--David Winkler, Ben Gelt, and their other colleagues in 
Washington. They told me today, David and Ben, that they've now been to 
30 States, and they have 10,000 young people across America enlisted in 
this cause. So I want to thank them. I think we ought to give them a big 
hand. [Applause]
    Finally, I will say more about this in a moment, but as you know, 
I'm trying to pass some legislation on this subject in Washington, and 
there are three people I want to acknowledge. First of all, a former 
Congressman from Maryland, Mike Barnes, who's the president of Handgun 
Control, who came with me, and he's up here today. Mike, thank you for 
coming. Secondly, Representative Diana DeGette from Colorado, who is 
supporting our legislation in Washington. Thank you, Diana, for what 
you're doing. Thank you. Thank you. And someone who's not on the 
platform, I don't think, today, but who came all the way from Washington 
with me because he believes so strongly in this, and he wanted to 
express his solidarity with you, the Democratic leader in the House of 
Representatives, Dick Gephardt from Missouri, came all the way from 
Washington to be here today. And I want to thank him for doing that.
    Let me say that not only Denver but the whole State of Colorado is a 
mile high in the eyes of your fellow Americans today. You come from all 
backgrounds, different communities, and surely different political 
parties, to speak with a single voice for common sense and safety and 
the future of our children. I want to tell you, first, you are not 
alone; and second, America is listening.
    All across America, people like you are speaking up: here, where 
you're taking the lead, working to close the gun show loophole because 
the legislature wouldn't do it for you, in spite of the leadership of 
Governor Owens and Attorney General Salazar; in Maryland, another State 
with a lot of hunters and sports shooters, which yesterday became the 
first State to require built-in safety locks for all new handguns; in 
California, which banned junk guns, a new generation of assault weapons, 
and limited handgun sales to one a month; in Massachusetts, now 
enforcing consumer product safety rules for guns, banning junk guns, 
requiring child trigger locks and other devices to prevent children from 
firing guns. All these steps have helped to protect more of our 
children. But every child in America deserves these protections. 
Reducing gun violence is a national challenge.
    I came here, first, to say I support what you're doing. And in spite 
of all the attempts to put roadblocks in your way, you must not be 
deterred. Your leaders told me you need 62,000 signatures to put this 
initiative on the ballot. The purpose of all these delaying tactics is 
to put off the day when you can start gathering the signatures. I want 
every one of you who is here today to sign up with these folks when you 
leave, because you ought to be able to get 62,000 signatures in 2 hours 
if everybody who is for this will sign up and go get the signatures.

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    The second thing I wanted to do is to say that you deserve a 
National Government that follows your lead, and Congress is the only 
body that can provide the kind of national approach we need to protect 
all the children in every State. That's why I asked----

[At this point, there was a disturbance in the audience.]

    The President. That's why I asked----

[The disturbance continued.]

    The President. Sir, this meeting is not about you and not about me. 
So would you please let me give the speech? [Applause]
    I'll be glad to speak to him out there, but you came here to talk 
about something else.
    Now, let me say to all of you, the thing--I'm very proud of the fact 
that you've made this a bipartisan effort. And as John said when he 
spoke, it is true that even in Washington not every Democrat is for this 
legislation, and not every Republican is against it. This is largely a 
matter of political organization and power among the opponents of this 
legislation--here, too--and a matter of culture.
    One of the reasons I wanted to come here is that I grew up in a 
State not all that different from Colorado. I was 12 years old when I 
first shot a can off a fencepost with a .22. Unlike most elected 
officials in Washington, I've actually been to gun shows. I understand 
what is going on here. But I will say this: The message you are sending 
the country is not that this is the only answer but that it's an 
important answer. The message you are sending the country is not that we 
shouldn't have stronger enforcement of the laws--we should; not that we 
shouldn't teach firearms safety--we should; not that we shouldn't have 
community efforts like our national campaign against youth violence is 
promoting, to strengthen the role of parents and families and schools 
and community groups--we should. But that is not an excuse for saying 
that guns are the only area of our national life where there will be no 
prevention. That is their position, and that is wrong.
    We punish reckless drivers, but we still have seatbelts in our car 
and child safety seats for our kids. We punish people who hijack 
airplanes and terrorists who blow them up, but we still--thank God--have 
got airport metal detectors. Every one of us, just about, at least my 
age, were raised by usually our mothers telling us that an ounce of 
prevention is worth a pound of cure. Gun safety cannot be the only area 
of our national life where we say no to prevention. Colorado is here to 
say we have lost enough of our children; it's time to have prevention, 
too, in this important area of our national life.
    When I signed the Brady bill into law in 1993, a law which had been 
vetoed by the previous President, the same people who are fighting you 
said the Brady bill would do no good because all the criminals bought 
their guns at gun shows and urban flea markets--[laughter]--and out of 
the back of trunks from one another. And therefore, this prevention 
would do no good; it would just be a terrible burden for hunters and 
sports people.
    Well, 6 years later and a few months, over half a million felons, 
fugitives, and stalkers have been unable to get handguns. Gun crime down 
more than 35 percent; homicide down to a 31-year low: it worked.
    But no one believes this country is safe enough. I don't want any 
future President to have to go to Columbine, or to Springfield, Oregon, 
or to Jonesboro, Arkansas, or to all the other places I have been. It's 
tough enough to comfort the families of our service men and women who 
die in the line of duty. Children have no duties, except to their 
studies and their families. Our duty is to protect their lives and give 
them futures.
    I know I'm talking to the converted here, but I want the evidence to 
get out. This gun show loophole is now a serious problem. Last year a 
study by the Departments of Justice and Treasury of 314 gun show 
investigations showed the following: 34 percent of the sales 
investigated involved guns later used in serious crimes, a total of 
54,000 gun crimes. This is a serious problem.
    Now, should we have--I will say again--should we have a 
comprehensive strategy? Of course, we should. Does the media have a 
responsibility? Do communities have a responsibility--schools, parents? 
Absolutely. Is teaching people gun safety an important part of this 
responsibility? Of course, it is. When the NRA was focusing on teaching 
young

[[Page 795]]

people gun safety in my home State, I supported them in every way I 
could. But it is no excuse not to have prevention.
    Let me tell you something. I come from a State where factories in 
small towns shut down on the first day of deer season every year. And 
when we were debating the Brady bill and the assault weapons ban, I 
heard all this stuff, and I told them, I said, ``If you miss a day, even 
an hour in the deer woods, I'll be against this bill.'' Of course, they 
haven't. That's not what this is about. So I say to you, you have to go 
out and say this. Now, people say--the same people who said 6 years ago 
that all these criminals were getting their guns at gun shows and urban 
flea markets and, therefore, the Brady bill wouldn't work, now say you 
can't have background checks at gun shows because it would be so 
burdensome.
    Well, let me tell you what the burden is. More than 70 percent of 
these checks can be done within minutes; 95 percent can be done within a 
day. The 5 percent that can't be done within a day should still be done. 
Why? Because they are 20 times more likely to be rejected because of a 
criminal background or another problem. Those are the facts. Now, I 
don't know about you, but I think it's worth a little bit of 
inconvenience to save a few thousand lives over the next few years.
    Now, should we enforce the law? Yes, we should. Gun crime 
prosecutions are up by 16 percent since I've been President. The average 
person convicted is serving 2 years longer. Gun crime down, as I said, 
by 35 percent.
    Here in Colorado, your U.S. Attorney, Tom Strickland, is working 
with local officials on Colorado's Project Exile. They're enforcing the 
laws more vigorously, including against those who violate the Brady 
bill. But I will say again, the real question is, with the children's 
lives at stake, with the accidental gun rate of kids under 15 in this 
country--the accidental gun rate--9 times higher than that of the next 
25 biggest economies combined, how can we say prevention has no role?
    You all believe this, but I want you to have these facts to argue. 
And I want you to understand that the country is looking very closely at 
Colorado. We know it's a State that has Republicans and Democrats. We 
know it's a State that has a strong culture that favors hunting and 
sport shooting. We know it's a State with a broken heart over Columbine. 
We know it's a State where people can put aside their partisan 
differences, and maybe even their lifetime culture, to look at the 
facts.
    Now, other States will follow your lead. I hope and pray Congress 
will follow your lead, as well. But you must not get tired or 
frustrated. You must not even get angry. You've got to go talk to these 
people. Believe me, not every member of the National Rifle Association 
is dead set against you. They get this stuff in the mail; they hear this 
stuff over the airwaves, but they love their children, too. I wouldn't 
give up on anybody.
    But the main thing you have got to do is win here. So I will say 
again, if you haven't signed up to be with SAFE, sign up on your way 
out, and find out when those petitions get circulated, and do your part.
    Look how many people are here. If everybody in this room--everybody 
in this room--there's about 3,000 people here, right?--if you got 20 
signatures, it would be a done deal.
    In the end, change is always difficult. But you must understand how 
important it is for your children and people all over the country. If 
you do this, you will give so much energy to people who have been 
sitting around in other States like yours, thinking it was a hopeless 
battle, thinking they couldn't win. If you do this, you will give 
enormous impetus to our efforts in Congress to try to provide national 
protections.
    And most important, if you do this, you will say, we're going to 
treat this area of our life like every other area of our national life. 
America is the country that respects the rights of people. But we've 
still got our rights over 200 years later, since we started, because we 
also exercise our responsibility, especially for our children and their 
future.
    I admire you. I support you. Don't quit until you win.
    Thank you very much.

 Note:  The President spoke at 11:40 a.m. in the Colorado Convention 
Center. In his remarks, he referred to Mayor Wellington E. Webb of 
Denver;

[[Page 796]]

Tom Mauser, political director, and John Head and Arnold J. Grossman, 
co-presidents, Sane Alternatives to the Firearms Epidemic (SAFE) 
Colorado; former Governors Richard D. Lamm and John A. Love and current 
Gov. Bill Owens of Colorado; and Colorado State Attorney General Kenneth 
Salazar.