Just in Time: Pause in the Shootout
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: The political debate over gun control reached a new level last week when NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre launched a personal attack on President Clinton. "Just in Time" this week: a look at the response to his comments, some interesting moves by Republicans and gun makers, and how the gun issue is playing on the campaign trail. Here from our sister news organization, "Time" correspondent John Dickerson. John, thanks for coming in. We're going to be hearing a lot about gun control during this presidential campaign season, aren't we?</s>JOHN DICKERSON, "TIME" CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And Al Gore's going to be the one talking the most about it. There were some interesting polls last week. One of them, a battleground poll, showed that Gore is not doing as well with women, a traditionally-strong Democratic voting block. And one of the reasons is because George Bush has a strong education agenda that works with those women voters. Another issue that works well with those voters is guns. And that's why Al Gore will be talking about it; he thinks Bush has a real weakness there.</s>MESERVE: What is that weakness, as he perceives it?</s>DICKERSON: The weakness is that, in Texas, Bush has had a very strong pro-gun record; he has two pieces of legislation, the most important of which is the one that allows Texans to carry concealed hand guns. That's a piece of legislation Governor Bush was very happy and proud about; and now, in a general election, though, is one that might cause him some trouble.</s>MESERVE: Do you see Bush trying to moderate his position here? He has been somewhat critical of Mr. LaPierre in his remarks.</s>DICKERSON: Well, in some ways, LaPierre -- his remarks last week -- and now, LaPierre has not backed away from them -- helps the governor, Bush, because it allows Bush to look more moderate. Bush came out and said that the remarks were over the line. And it allows him to, then, look slightly more moderate. But again, important for Bush is his base does care about Second Amendment -- they do they do care about Second Amendment rights? And they will come out and vote if they think that Democrats are going to take away those rights.</s>MESERVE: So, ultimately, how does Bush position himself on this issue?</s>DICKERSON: Very, very carefully. He has to look like he's open to some kind of gun control, but he has to look, also, like he's not bowing to the media and the left-wing folks at the NRI -- the NRA, so exercise the bout.</s>MESERVE: Looking at LaPierre's remarks and reaction to it on Capitol Hill and elsewhere makes me ask this question: Has the NRA lost some influence and power as a force on Capitol Hill?</s>DICKERSON: The death of the NRA is always talked about, and it never really happens. And particularly on Capitol Hill, they still exert a tremendous amount of influence because, in district by district, there are a lot of Democrats who have a lot of NRA members in their districts, and they can't go along with a lot of this gun control, which means that the Republican-Democratic split that people talk about with gun control really doesn't exist, which means the NRA in specific districts can, in fact, have a lot of influence in this next election.</s>MESERVE: And meanwhile, you have Smith & Wesson reaching this agreement with the government. Well, how does this change the dynamic here? And does it force other gun makers to reach similar sorts of accord?</s>DICKERSON: Well, that's one of the most interesting things that happened last week. The nation's largest gun manufacturer has, essentially, capitulated to the government's demands on safety issues. And we remember from the tobacco situation, where it -- tobacco companies, at first, started caving in, and it caused a whole series of other tobacco companies to fall in line. We may see that here. Glock, another gun manufacturer, is already talking about, perhaps, agreeing to the same things that Smith & Wesson did. So, in fact, a lot of the Kabuki ritual in Congress, and the dance that goes on about politics and guns, may be irrelevant now, because gun manufacturers may take some of these measures on their own.</s>MESERVE: John Dickerson, "Time" magazine, thanks so much. Search CNN.com CNNSI.com CNNmoney.com The Web