Bush Challenges Gore on Gun Issue

SAN DIEGO — As he appealed to California’s Latino voters Friday, Republican George W. Bush continued a sharp exchange about gun policy with his Democratic presidential rival, Al Gore.

Texas Gov. Bush accused the vice president of flip-flopping his allegiance to the National Rifle Assn. Then he responded to a Gore challenge by suggesting that he would sign legislation as president that restricts local governments from suing gun makers.

In Texas, Bush signed a bill last year that forces cities and counties to go through the state attorney general to file such suits.

“You can get a feel for my position looking at what I’ve done in office,” Bush, the presumptive Republican nominee, said at a news conference. “What I did in office was sign a bill that makes it very difficult for local municipalities to sue manufacturers of a legal product.”

Bush also attacked Gore, the expected Democratic nominee, for his position on gun laws, suggesting the vice president was once a member of the NRA and had a long history of supporting the group’s pro-gun agenda.

Bush staffers provided a list of Gore’s links to the gun industry, including an NRA analysis that found Gore voted with the group 75% of the time when he served in the Senate from 1985 to 1990 (Gore was a senator from Tennessee from 1985 to 1993).

“My position is that when it was convenient politically, he voted one way and when it was convenient politically, he changed his tune,” said Bush, adding later: “The man had a voting record that indicated that he certainly had an affinity toward their positions in the ‘80s.”

Bush came under fire from reporters, who pressed him for evidence that Gore was a member of the NRA. Bush, who has spent much of the last week accusing Gore of distorting his record, coyly cited his source of information as “a little birdie.”

“He might have been a member, let’s put it that way,” said Bush, urging reporters and Gore to provide evidence to the contrary.

Gore aides did not deny that the vice president was a member of the NRA. But they said Gore had no memory of being a member and they could not find any record to indicate he ever belonged. They complained that Bush was asking them to prove a negative they could not rule out.

“I don’t think it’s relevant,” said Doug Hattaway, a Gore spokesman. “What’s important is that Al Gore is standing up to the NRA and its extreme agenda while George Bush is carrying their ammo bag.”

The exchange over guns began earlier this week with the release of videotaped comments by an NRA executive who claimed that if Bush wins the White House, “we’ll have a president . . . where we work out of their office.” Bush brushed aside the comments, saying he will make gun policy himself. But Gore cited the tape as evidence that Bush is an extremist on the issue.

On Friday, Bush began the day with a Cinco de Mayo speech, scribbled on the back of an envelope and delivered extemporaneously, in which he said Latinos share many Republican values, including a respect for the family and an entrepreneurial drive.

The Texas governor, working to overcome Latino anger at the California GOP’s role in divisive campaigns to end affirmative action and public benefits for illegal immigrants, delivered his address to a mostly white audience at a breakfast meeting co-sponsored by the San Diego Republican Party and the U.S. Mexico Foundation, a cross-border business group.

“The signal of this country is we welcome you--bienvenidos a este pais--you’re welcome in America,” Bush said, who used his roughhewn Spanish nine times in 20 minutes.

Bush’s trip the last two days has provided hours of footage for political commercials come fall. His media crew taped his appearances at several picturesque sites, many of them filled with Latinos going about their daily business.

He stopped at San Juan Capistrano Mission, then journeyed through a Latino business district in Santa Ana, stopping to chat with store owners and people in the street--all as the camera rolled.

But the appearance on Cinco de Mayo, marking a key Mexican victory over the French in the battle for independence, made explicit Bush’s interest in the Latino vote, which now comprises about 16% of registered voters, according to a recent Field study.

“I look forward to campaigning maybe to neighborhoods that others of my party dare not tread,” Bush said.

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Associated Press contributed to this story.