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Interview With Wayne LaPierre

Aired April 28, 2003 - 15:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the NRA's executive vice president and CEO, Wayne LaPierre joins me from Orlando, Florida.
Wayne LaPierre, good to see you again.

WAYNE LAPIERRE, EXEC. VP, CEO, NRA: Good to be with you.

WOODRUFF: As you are aware, the widow of the one of the Washington area sniperers, her name is Denise Johnson (ph). She is suing a gun manufacturer. Among other things she saying, gun sellers and manufactureres shouldn't be above the law. If any other product had injuried my husband and irresponsible sellers played a part I would be able to bring a case in cour.

My question to you is why should gun manufacturers and sellers be exempt from this?

LAPIERRE: Because, Judy, what they're trying to do is an abuse of our legal system in the country. We're not talking about a manufacturer making a defective product or breaching a contract or warranty. They ought to be sued if they do that. But if we start allowing manufacturers of any products, firearms, cars, pharmicudicals, you name it, to be sued in if a third party criminal misuses the product, we'll never have another product manufactured in United States again. What you have is a situation where the folks that want to prevent Americans from owning firearms have lost that battle in the Congress, they've lost it in the state legislature, and now they've teamed up with some greedy trial lawyers that are simply trying to bleed the firearms manufacturers out of business with legal fees. And it's an abuse of our legal system and the American public is not in favor of it and a majority of Congress is not in favor of it.

WOODRUFF: Well, our next guest is a former New Jersey police detective, David Lamello (ph). He was shot three times in the line of duty. I'm sure you know his story, as well. Shot by an armed robber. He is suing a gun dealer in West Virginia who sold guns to an intermediary, his argument being that gun sellers have the responsibility to make sure the guns don't get into the hands of criminals.

LAPIERRE: Let me explain the law. Firearms sales in the United States are regulated by the federal government right now, all the way from plant to purchaser. The federal government heavily regulates firearms dealers on all sales of new firearms. A dealer, anywhere in the United States, cannot deliver a firearm to any individual without the federal government giving the a-OK stamp of approval on the sale through the national instant check system. In other words, they check out the buyer and tell the dealer it's okay to deliver that firearm. Now, if someone is illegally buying a firearm on behalf of some other person, that's a crime and they ought to be prosecuted and put in jail.

WOODRUFF: How do you get at this problem, Wayne LaPierre, unless you go after the people selling or making the guns? Because otherwise, isn't it all disappearing into a big black hole somewhere, where no one's responsible?

LAPIERRE: Not at all. I mean, two to three million times a year, honest people use a firearm to defend themselves from a criminal. We don't want to put the manufacturers of firearms that make firearms for our military, police and lawful citizens out of business. What we ought to do is when a criminal misuses that firearm, 100 percent of the time we ought to throw him in prison and keep him there. And that's what makes our streets safe, and that's what the National Rifle Association is urging. Not prevent honest people from owning firearms for recreation and defense. And not to put the manufacturers of this product out of business in our country, which is what the other side wants to do.

WOODRUFF: Let me also quote to you, from a man named Robert Richter (ph), a former attorney for the NRA. I'm sure you know him. He testified in a case in New York that the gun industry, he said, is known for some what time what guns were ending up on the black market, he says where criminals can get him. He says quote -- I'm quoting him, "There are a bunch of white bunch of right wing whackos at the NRA controlling everything." He said he was referring to you and Charlton Heston.

LAPIERRE: Well, I mean, I think -- I mean, I don't need to defend Charlton Heston. And let me state the law again for anyone listening to this. Firearms sales are regulated from plant to purchaser by the federal government. A dealer cannot deliver a firearm to any individual anywhere in the country until it goes through the national instant check system, the federal government checks the buyer out and tells the dealer it's OK to hand that person a firearm.

Now, given that that's the law, how can you say the manufacturers are somehow getting guns illegally to criminals? I mean, it's the fantasy in the mind of people that want to ban guns in this country. It bears no relationship to the law. And I understand how some citizen that may not understand the law might be misled, but if you want to check the facts, it's simply not the truth what they're saying.

WOODRUFF: But this is somebody that worked with you at the NRA.

LAPIERRE: Now, he doesn't -- he hasn't work for the NRA, in about 20 years, and he's misstating the law. I mean, the law is the law. Any citizen can check it out. A new firearm sale cannot be made by a dealer without going through the national instant check system, and without the federal government telling the dealer, we've checked out this person, it's OK to deliver the firearm.

WOODRUFF: Well, it's an issue we're going to be watching in the days and weeks to come. It's coming up in the Congress. Wayne LaPierre, good to see you.

LAPIERRE: Thank you.

WOODRUFF: Thank you for talking to us today. Appericate it. Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired April 28, 2003 - 15:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the NRA's executive vice president and CEO, Wayne LaPierre joins me from Orlando, Florida.
Wayne LaPierre, good to see you again.

WAYNE LAPIERRE, EXEC. VP, CEO, NRA: Good to be with you.

WOODRUFF: As you are aware, the widow of the one of the Washington area sniperers, her name is Denise Johnson (ph). She is suing a gun manufacturer. Among other things she saying, gun sellers and manufactureres shouldn't be above the law. If any other product had injuried my husband and irresponsible sellers played a part I would be able to bring a case in cour.

My question to you is why should gun manufacturers and sellers be exempt from this?

LAPIERRE: Because, Judy, what they're trying to do is an abuse of our legal system in the country. We're not talking about a manufacturer making a defective product or breaching a contract or warranty. They ought to be sued if they do that. But if we start allowing manufacturers of any products, firearms, cars, pharmicudicals, you name it, to be sued in if a third party criminal misuses the product, we'll never have another product manufactured in United States again. What you have is a situation where the folks that want to prevent Americans from owning firearms have lost that battle in the Congress, they've lost it in the state legislature, and now they've teamed up with some greedy trial lawyers that are simply trying to bleed the firearms manufacturers out of business with legal fees. And it's an abuse of our legal system and the American public is not in favor of it and a majority of Congress is not in favor of it.

WOODRUFF: Well, our next guest is a former New Jersey police detective, David Lamello (ph). He was shot three times in the line of duty. I'm sure you know his story, as well. Shot by an armed robber. He is suing a gun dealer in West Virginia who sold guns to an intermediary, his argument being that gun sellers have the responsibility to make sure the guns don't get into the hands of criminals.

LAPIERRE: Let me explain the law. Firearms sales in the United States are regulated by the federal government right now, all the way from plant to purchaser. The federal government heavily regulates firearms dealers on all sales of new firearms. A dealer, anywhere in the United States, cannot deliver a firearm to any individual without the federal government giving the a-OK stamp of approval on the sale through the national instant check system. In other words, they check out the buyer and tell the dealer it's okay to deliver that firearm. Now, if someone is illegally buying a firearm on behalf of some other person, that's a crime and they ought to be prosecuted and put in jail.

WOODRUFF: How do you get at this problem, Wayne LaPierre, unless you go after the people selling or making the guns? Because otherwise, isn't it all disappearing into a big black hole somewhere, where no one's responsible?

LAPIERRE: Not at all. I mean, two to three million times a year, honest people use a firearm to defend themselves from a criminal. We don't want to put the manufacturers of firearms that make firearms for our military, police and lawful citizens out of business. What we ought to do is when a criminal misuses that firearm, 100 percent of the time we ought to throw him in prison and keep him there. And that's what makes our streets safe, and that's what the National Rifle Association is urging. Not prevent honest people from owning firearms for recreation and defense. And not to put the manufacturers of this product out of business in our country, which is what the other side wants to do.

WOODRUFF: Let me also quote to you, from a man named Robert Richter (ph), a former attorney for the NRA. I'm sure you know him. He testified in a case in New York that the gun industry, he said, is known for some what time what guns were ending up on the black market, he says where criminals can get him. He says quote -- I'm quoting him, "There are a bunch of white bunch of right wing whackos at the NRA controlling everything." He said he was referring to you and Charlton Heston.

LAPIERRE: Well, I mean, I think -- I mean, I don't need to defend Charlton Heston. And let me state the law again for anyone listening to this. Firearms sales are regulated from plant to purchaser by the federal government. A dealer cannot deliver a firearm to any individual anywhere in the country until it goes through the national instant check system, the federal government checks the buyer out and tells the dealer it's OK to hand that person a firearm.

Now, given that that's the law, how can you say the manufacturers are somehow getting guns illegally to criminals? I mean, it's the fantasy in the mind of people that want to ban guns in this country. It bears no relationship to the law. And I understand how some citizen that may not understand the law might be misled, but if you want to check the facts, it's simply not the truth what they're saying.

WOODRUFF: But this is somebody that worked with you at the NRA.

LAPIERRE: Now, he doesn't -- he hasn't work for the NRA, in about 20 years, and he's misstating the law. I mean, the law is the law. Any citizen can check it out. A new firearm sale cannot be made by a dealer without going through the national instant check system, and without the federal government telling the dealer, we've checked out this person, it's OK to deliver the firearm.

WOODRUFF: Well, it's an issue we're going to be watching in the days and weeks to come. It's coming up in the Congress. Wayne LaPierre, good to see you.

LAPIERRE: Thank you.

WOODRUFF: Thank you for talking to us today. Appericate it. Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com