As President Obama pushes through new restrictions on gun purchases, video has recirculated of a speech suggesting the National Rifle Association once supported criminal background checks 'for all'.
In 1999, the NRA’s then Executive Vice-president Wayne LaPierre, speaking before a panel of the House Judiciary Committee, said the following about the implementation of background checks:
“Let’s talk about what’s reasonable and what’s not.
“We think it’s reasonable to provide mandatory criminal background checks for every sale at every gun show.
“No loopholes anywhere for anyone.”
The statement came as then-President Bill Clinton pushed for immediate action on gun-control after the Columbine High School massacre of April 20, 1999, which saw two students kill 12 students and one teacher and wound 23 others before committing suicide.
Mr LaPierre’s speech detailed “what’s reasonable and what’s not” in the wake of the massacre.
Alongside saying he was in favour of “instant checks at gun shows just like at gun stores and pawn shops,” he also described nine “unreasonable” aspects of the legislation Democrats were pushing for at the time.
His testimony largely adheres to what the NRA still maintains today, that existing laws need to be better enforced rather than changed.
However, the statement still sticks out as a moment when the NRA did foresee a widening of background checks as ‘reasonable’.
