Richardson Flip Flops on Guns Loophole

Found something interesting in the clips this morning? Especially in light of Governor Richardson’s recent statements on Meet the Press.

Richardson on Guns: “I don’t change my positions.” [Meet the Press, 5/27/07]

Albuquerque Journal

Gov. Flops On Guns Loophole

By Jeff Jones

July 27, 2007

Gov. Bill Richardson says on the presidential campaign trail that he wants to close a loophole that allows some gun buyers to walk out of gun shows without a criminal background check.

That’s a 180-degree turnaround from his position as a candidate for re-election to the governor’s office.

Richardson’s campaign acknowledges the switch and says there is good reason.

Campaign spokesman Pahl Shipley said that “increasing levels of gun violence”? including the mass shooting at Virginia Tech in April that left 33 people dead? played a role in Richardson’s change.

“The process to close the loophole should begin immediately,” Shipley said in a written statement. “In the meantime, every effort should be made to ensure the system functions efficiently and that the background checks are truly ‘instant.’ ”

But the president of the New Mexico Shooting Sports Association, Charlie Weisleder, accused Richardson of trying to play on both sides of the gun control fence.

“Maybe he doesn’t think the NRA (National Rifle Association) listens to debates,” Weisleder said.

The Richardson presidential campaign this week said he aims to close the “gun show loophole” that exempts private sellers from a federal law requiring background checks? an issue he highlighted Monday during a nationally televised debate.

“The issue here, I believe, is instant background checks,” Richardson said at the close of the CNN-YouTube debate in South Carolina. “… That includes gun sales at gun shows.”

Switching sides

While running for re-election in May 2006, Richardson aimed in the opposite direction in a questionnaire from the New Mexico Shooting Sports Association, a National Rifle Association affiliate.

When asked if he would support such legislation, he checked the “No” box.

Richardson has often embraced the image of a pro-gun rights Western governor and, as a presidential candidate, has underscored that he’s a hunter and gun owner.

Under current federal law, federally licensed gun dealers must check prospective gun buyers through the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check system before selling to them.

The system is meant to ensure that buyers don’t have felony convictions, mental health issues or other problems that would bar them from legally buying a gun.

But private sellers? including hobbyists who sell at gun shows? don’t have to do such background checks under current federal law.

Critics say the system leaves a gap that allows criminals and mentally unstable people to buy guns with no questions asked.

NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said the federal government has yet to live up to its promise of a truly “instant” background check. He said some checks take days, adding that past proposals to require all gun show buyers to undergo a background check would have put gun shows out of business.

“The aim of gun control groups is to try to regulate gun shows out of existence,” he said.

FBI spokesman Steve Fischer said more than 90 percent of all background checks for dealers take place instantly or within a matter of minutes.

Shipley said Richardson believes the federal government should do all it can to ensure the checks are “instant.”

Seller distinctions
There are two categories of people who sell at gun shows: private hobbyists, who sell occasionally, and licensed dealers.

As a U.S. House member from New Mexico, Richardson co-sponsored a 1985 measure that specifically excluded private gun hobbyists from the federal definition of a “dealer.”

Eight years later, in 1993, Congress passed the current background check system. That law mandated background checks only by licensed dealers.

Richardson voted against the 1993 background-check law. And Shipley said Richardson played no role in creating the loophole.

“That loophole appeared when the (1993) law was passed mandating background checks on dealer-sold guns? and not private sales,” Shipley said.

Richardson has freely discussed his hunting hobby and gun ownership. In 2003, he signed a state concealed-carry law and subsequently passed the state test to carry a concealed gun? although the governor’s office said he didn’t intend to pack heat.

The NRA has given him an “A” rating as governor? a far cry from the “F” ratings it has doled out in the past for Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Joe Biden and Dennis Kucinich.

Weisleder said the gun rights questionnaire Richardson filled out last year played a role in the New Mexico association’s decision to give him an “A.”

“It looks to me like right now he’s trying to get votes and not let people know he’s very pro-gun,” Weisleder said. “I don’t know why he is doing this.”

Meet the Press

May 27, 2007

MR. RUSSERT: Let me turn to gun control, and this is an article from your Santa Fe Mexican newspaper, “Listening to U.S. Representative Bill Richardson” — this is when you were a congressman — “explain his position on gun control to a Santa Fe audience is like watching Fred Astaire dance. ‘I voted to repeal the assault weapons ban because it’s always been my view that occasionally a member of Congress on an issue where he or she has some difficulty in justifying a vote, that I should respect the wishes of my constituents. In this case, the strong majority favored repealing the ban.’ That doesn’t mean it’s the right vote.”

You voted to ban assault weapons — Uzi, Streetsweepers — then you voted to repeal it, and you basically saying, “Well, I know it’s not the right vote, but my constituents want it, therefore, I’ll give it to them.”

GOV. RICHARDSON: Well, listen — I know — I’ve been in public life 25 years.

I was the whip when President Clinton — I was the whip, in other words, in charge of getting some of those votes for the crime bill, which put 100,000 cops on the street, which took some of those initiatives, but, look, Tim, you know, I’m a gun owner, I’m a Western governor. I believe the issue is not gun control, the issue is happening in Virginia Tech where I just — those — the tragedy there. The issue is instant background checks.

I am for instant background — I am for a bill that Carolyn McCarthy is doing now in the House of Representatives, which tightens background checks, which says —

MR. RUSSERT: Why do hunters need Streetsweepers or Uzi machine guns? You voted to ban those. As president, would you seek to ban assault weapons?

GOV. RICHARDSON: Tim, Tim, the assault weapons ban did not work, it didn’t work, it didn’t work.

MR. RUSSERT: You wouldn’t do that as president?

GOV. RICHARDSON: It didn’t work. What I would do is I would focus more of our efforts — for instance, background checks with those with criminal backgrounds and the mentally ill. We have to tighten up those background checks. I am for doing that, but the problem is the states don’t have the database, the resources.

MR. RUSSERT: Okay, you received the endorsement of the National Rifle Association, NRA, running for governor. There’s a picture of you at their podium proudly accepting their endorsement. Would you accept the endorsement of the NRA for president?

GOV. RICHARDSON: Yes, I would. I’m a gun owner. You know, Tim, gun control shouldn’t be a litmus test in the Democratic Party. I am for reasonable controls on — I don’t want to see Uzis when you’re hunting, obviously, but —

MR. RUSSERT: But you wouldn’t ban them.

GOV. RICHARDSON: This is the West. Tim, I’m a Western governor, it’s a cultural issue. I am for strong law enforcement, putting criminals — I have a very strong law enforcement record. I believe it’s not necessarily a gun control issue. Let’s look at some of the issues affecting the mentally ill, the fact that mental health doesn’t have parity with other illnesses. The instant background checks are critically important. I’m for that. You don’t want anybody with a criminal background or mentally ill having these — and I think Representative McCarthy, who is one of the strongest advocates for gun control, is pursuing — I am for that.

MR. RUSSERT: But being the NRA’s man is not going to be popular in some Democratic primaries.

GOV. RICHARDSON: I don’t change my positions.

MR. RUSSERT: Well, you did on assault weapons.

GOV. RICHARDSON: I don’t change my positions.

MR. RUSSERT: But you did change it on assault weapons.

GOV. RICHARDSON: But, Tim, that was about — as part of an overall bill that President Clinton proposed.

MR. RUSSERT: Let me move on to Gonzales, Alberto Gonzales, the attorney general. Do you call for his resignation?