Shoot-Out at GOP Corral: All’s Fun as Bush Pulls Gun

It was just another gathering of the Republican presidential candidates:

Pat Robertson warned that one of these days an insurrection might befall the United States and hunters armed with rifles could save democracy.

Jack Kemp suggested that New Hampshire change its beloved slogan from “Live Free or Die” to “Live Free and Live.”

And George Bush pulled out a gun.

Thus did the Republican candidates spend Tuesday night courting the Gun Owners of New Hampshire, a conservative group of hunters--and coincidentally, voters--that surfaces each election cycle to weigh in on the presidential race.

In 1980, the last time there was such a Republican shoot-out--Democrats are not the party of choice for this group--independent-minded John B. Anderson showed up to lobby for gun control.

Not precisely the message the gun owners wanted to hear, but it did win Anderson what he was aiming for--press attention that buoyed the maverick candidate’s run for the White House.

So with similar aims in mind, vice presidential aides Tuesday began spreading the word that Bush might have some stern words for the powerful gun owners. It just could be, one suggested, one of the always cherished “defining moments” that crystallize a candidacy.

Crysallizes Absurdity

But between jokes, blasts at one’s opponents and downright begging for votes, the candidates’ night came to crystallize little more than the occasional absurdities of the campaign trail.

There was Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, reminding the audience that Ronald Reagan charmed them out of their votes in 1980 with a little theatrical trick. Reagan had pulled a lifetime National Rifle Assn. membership card out of his pocket.

Dole reached into his coat.

“So I borrowed it from him,” he said, pulling out what appeared to be an NRA card as the audience guffawed.

“No,” he added with a hasty laugh, “it’s really mine.”

Not smiling was former television evangelist Pat Robertson, who gave the gun club a Revolutionary War lesson. It was the New Hampshire militia, he said, that in 1775 came to the aid of Massachusetts and “virtually annihilated an army of the strongest nation on the face of the earth.”

“I believe,” Robertson added, “that some time down the road there might be an attempt by some foreign power to overwhelm, there might be some insurrection where we find ourselves faced with a dictator.

‘Backbone of a Militia’

“Those good people who use their firearms for sporting purposes, who like to go into the woods and enjoy hunting . . . they could still be the backbone of a well-regulated militia.”

New York Rep. Jack Kemp, an audience favorite, peered over the microphone and out at the crowd of 1,000 gun owners and a dozen television cameras.

“My idea of gun control,” he said, “is a steady aim.”

But points for drama went not to Kemp but to Vice President Bush, who in one of the evening’s eye-opening moments told the owners he was troubled by the lack of “detectability” of new weapons. Bush, in what his aides suggested could provoke a verbal confrontation with the audience, said that the anti-gun control lobby might have to sit down and compromise with law enforcement officials who favor restrictions on small or non-metal guns that evade airport metal detectors.

Bush reached for his pocket and pulled out a palm-sized, shiny metal gun.

“That weapon at this point cannot be detected,” he said somberly. “That weapon can kill the pilot of an airplane.”

The gun, a five-shot .22-caliber pistol weighing 5.5 ounces, was given to Bush by Treasury Department officials, his aides said later.

Wins Fewer Boos

Dramatics aside, the move did not provoke disagreement--Bush seemed to win more applause and fewer boos after his stunt than before it. And fellow candidates Dole and former Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. were quick to bless Bush’s compromise idea.

The candidates also found virtual unanimity on the other major gun lobby issues. All said they would not vote for a gun control bill pending in Congress. All said they would veto the bill if it passed both houses during their presidential tenure.

Most took a few shots at Ohio Democratic Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum and Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, author and sponsor of the bill respectively.

“A subterfuge and perversion of truth,” harrumphed Haig.

Wringing Out the Votes

Most slipped in pro-Nicaraguan Contra messages and tried to wring out a few votes, Kemp with an urgent speech that among other things suggested the state slogan change.

Haig summed up the night at its beginnings, when he followed Bush, Robertson and former Delaware Gov. Pierre S. (Pete) du Pont to the stage and found he had little new to add.

“We’re all going to say the same thing,” he said. “That ought to tell you something about self-serving candidates.”