Gun Control Advocates Go After Bush

.c The Associated Press

By LAWRENCE L. KNUTSON

WASHINGTON (AP) – Bringing their van tour to Washington, gun control
advocates assailed GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush, blaming him for
legislation that permits concealed handguns virtually anywhere, including
churches, hospitals and amusement parks.

Mike Barnes, president of Handgun Control, called Bush’s record on gun issues
“dangerous” and said it is matched by what he called “absolutely bizarre”
votes against gun control in Congress by his vice presidential running mate,
Dick Cheney.

Standing in Lafayette Square with the White House as a backdrop, Barnes and
allies said they will discuss Bush’s record on guns at length during a tour
this fall of states likely to be decisive in November’s presidential election.

Stops already have been made in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and are scheduled
for Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, he said.

Barnes noted a Texas law that makes it easy for citizens to carry guns into
churches, synagogues, hospitals, nursing homes and amusement parks.

“I guess he believes you need your gun in case you are attacked by your
minister, or if a nurse in a nursing home goes berserk,” Barnes said.

Nina Butts, a lobbyist for Texans Against Handgun Violence, said: “Gov. Bush
has been a dream come true for the National Rifle Association. What the NRA
wants, Gov. Bush supports. What the NRA doesn’t want, Gov. Bush defeats.”

Barnes said that as a GOP congressman from Wyoming, Cheney was one of only 21
House members to vote against a ban on so-called “cop-killer” bullets and
just one of four voting against banning plastic guns which many call a
favorite of terrorists because they have no metal parts to set off metal
detectors at airports and other security checkpoints.

In 1995, Bush approved a measure allowing Texans to be licensed to carry
concealed weapons. Bush called it another weapon in the fight against crime.
“This is a bill to make Texas a safer place,” he said.

In 1997, Bush signed a bill making changes in that law. Among them, it
prevented prosecution of licensed gun owners for illegally carrying guns into
churches unless they were given verbal or written notice that it wasn’t
allowed.

The Bush campaign responded with a dig at Vice President Al Gore.

“If any one’s record on guns is dangerous it is the record of the
Clinton-Gore administration and its failure to enforce and prosecute our gun
laws,” said Ray Sullivan, a spokesman for the Bush campaign. “Gov. Bush has
signed tough laws in Texas cracking down on juveniles and holding parents
responsible for making weapons inaccessible to children.”