Lisa: Thank you for having me.
Geoff: As we've been discussing
on this program, gun policy is a
challenging issue to tackle,
even though polling shows
Americans of all stripes want
something to be done about gun
violence and mass shootings.
Our next guest, a former gun
lobbyist, says bridging the
divide has much to do with how
we talk about guns and gun
reform.
Richard Feldman joins us now.
He is the president of the
independent firearm owners
association, and was a lobbyist
for the NRA back in the 1980's.
One of the reasons we wanted to
speak with you was because you
wrote an op-ed several years ago
now, in which you said that you
believe there is a way to
achieve meaningful gun law
reforms without alienating
millions of responsible gun
owners who don't believe that
criminals, unsupervised children
or mentally ill people should
have access to any kind of
weapon.
So what is it?
How should both sides approach
this debate?
Richard: If we are serious about
changing policy and not just
affecting politics, I think in
the current situation,
post-texas and Buffalo, we
really need to have a task
force of people, experts
both in firearms, technology,
mental health, that really look
at this thing and come up with
the kind of solutions that
aren't going to be easy, and
they're certainly not going to
be inexpensive.
If it's done correctly, with the
assistance and involvement, not
100% support, necessarily, but
involvement of firearm owners,
it stands a real chance of
success and moving forward.
Geoff: So, when you say, "If
it's done correctly," what
exactly do you mean?
Richard: If it's politicized,
it's pretty much dead on
arrival.
That's always been the problem
with this issue.
We have to align policy
considerations with the politics
of this issue, so that we're not
cross-pressuring one against the
other.
That's what leads, continually,
to defeats.
Geoff: So, when -- let's take,
for instance, the policy of
universal background checks.
What do gun owners hear
differently when there's a
conversation about that specific
policy issue?
Richard: If you use the word
"Universal," that means
"Everyone, every time, in every
situation."
That's what gun owners object
to.
Why should I have to put my wife
through a background check, or
my kids?
I know if they're convicted
felons.
I know if there's a problem.
What the bulk of the whole
effort with background checks,
was always to ensure that people
who you don't know, largely
commercial transactions, go
through a background check,
because in a commercial act or
transaction, at a gun shop, at a
gun show, on an internet sale or
a flea market, you don't know
who you're selling the gun to.
So, if we just adjust it ever so
slightly, I think we get far
more support.
We could have moved that forward
over 20 years ago when I
represented the firearm
industry.
Geoff: There are people who will
hear you say that we have to
change the way in which we talk
about gun ownership -- that
Democrats need to change their
messaging, and they will say
that at least the last two or
three decades, Democrats have
changed their messaging.
They talk more about "Gun
safety" now, and less so about
"Gun control," and that on the
right, there are Republicans, in
particular, who consider the
second amendment to be as sacred
as scripture, and that no matter
how you talk about it, there is
a certain group of gun owners
who just will not subscribe to
any sort of significant changes
on gun legislation.
What's your response to that?
Richard: I think there's great
truth in what you just said.
Everyone right now is distraught
about the terrible tragedies
this week in Texas, and last
week in Buffalo.
But what we do know is that gun
owners, or some good proportion
of them, are going to use this
issue.
They're going to say, "These
politicians are suggesting that
I limit certain guns that I own.
I didn't misuse any guns in the
last two weeks, or ever.
But somehow they don't trust me.
But they are asking me to trust
them."
Well, American politics doesn't
work that way.
It's the government that's
supposed to trust the people,
and when they don't trust the
people, and that's the
interpretation gun owners often
make, those individuals aren't
going to trust those
politicians, and it costs them
elections.
So, if the Democrats are serious
about maintaining control in one
house or the other of congress,
many state houses, they're the
ones that have got to compromise
their approach to the gun issue
-- not necessarily the results
but their approach to those
results.
Geoff: Richard Feldman is
president of the independent
firearm owners association.
Mr. Feldman, we appreciate your
time and your insights.
Richard: Thank you.