Station:      KHOW, 630 AM

Show:        The Michael Brown Show

Guests:      Gardner, C

Link:          http://www.khow.com/cc-common/podcast/single_page.html?podcast=michaelbrown

Date:         January 30, 2013

Topics:      Former Senator from Nebraska Chuck Hagel, Secretary of Defense, Israel, North Korea, Iran, Yuma, Eastern Plains, Gun Control, Assault Weapons Ban, Senator Diane Feinstein, Patrick Leahy, National Journal, Second Amendment, Constitution, Atrocity, Gun Violence, Law Enforcement, Mental Health, Soup lines, Refugee, Fairness, Border Security, Civil Unrest, Murder, Mob, Amnesty, President Ronald Reagan, Immigration, 1980’s, Electronic Enforcement, “Boots on the Ground”, Personnel, Barak Obama, Skeet Shooting, Pheasant and Quail Hunting, Marsha Blackburn (TN)

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HOST MICHAEL BROWN:  I want to welcome to the show, Congressman Cory Gardner from Yuma, Colorado.  Congressman, welcome to the show! How are you this evening?

U.S. REPRSENTATIVE (CO-04) COREY GARDNER:  Hey, Good evening, Michael.  Thank you so much for having me.  I’m doing great!

BROWN:  Well, thanks for doing it.  I understand you’re out on the Eastern Plains tonight, working

GARDNER:  I am! I’m in the big city of Wray, Colorado, tonight!  It’s about 7 miles away from Nebraska

BROWN:  […] you going to keep this pace up?

GARDNER:  Yeah, absolutely, we are!  You know, over the last two years, we did over 72 town meetings, even though we were in Washington most of the time.  I drove 80,000 miles over the last two years around the district, to make sure we had opportunities to hear from the people of Colorado, [about] what’s going on and how we can do better.

BROWN:  Now, 80,000 miles, that’s one heck of  a carbon footprint!

GARDNER:  [laughs] well, I’m sure Al Gore was fine with it at [inaudible] — well, never mind.

BROWN:  […] [discussion ensues regarding the nomination of former Seantor Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense.  Then,  responding to Gardner’s assertion that U.S. interests include protecting its relationship with Israel and making sure that Iran isn’t the “next powder ket to go off”] You’re exactly right.  Let me ask you some other, –do you—can you—do you mind taking a few questions about some other issues?  I just think people might want to hear from our elected folks, about what you think?   I mean, gun control, obviously—we’ve got Diane Feinstein, — I mean, you know how I feel about Senator Feinstein, but what’s going to happen?

GARDNER:  I don’t think that Feinstein’s gun bill will go forward.  I certainly don’t support it.  In fact, I’ve seen where Patrick Leahy today said that he would not support the ban.  There’s an article in the National Journal   today that said the assault weapons ban  is dying a quiet death.  That was the National Journal!  And so, you know, I don’t support an assault weapons ban.  I think gun control is the wrong direction for this country.  If we want to do something to prevent the next atrocity, which we should do, we must act on mental health.  We must act to make sure that we have the kind of ability to communicate with law enforcement that we need to prevent it.  But infringing on our Constitutional rights, chipping away at our Second Amendment,is certainly not a direction that needs to be taken.

BROWN:  So, let me take you to the next hot topic, because we spent literally two hours on the show yesterday having a discussion, just trying to have a rational discussion about immigration, of – really trying to break it down into what are all the sub-components of the issue, et cetera.  So, and I know we’ve only got a couple of minutes left, here, but, what’s your take on what’s happening on the Hill with immigration, and what’s your personal feelings?

GARDNER:  Well, my personal feeling — you know, my family—our last name used to be ‘Gardiner’ [spells it out].  They moved to England so that they could get into soup lines, that—to get food.  They took out the ‘I’ in our last name to get into those lines.  And I would like to believe that every single one of us, if we were living in a world that faced civil unrest, that faced murders, that faced mob control, –we would do anything and everything we could to get our families into the greatest country on the face of the Earth, the United States.  But we have got to make sure that we have a system that is based on law, that is legal, that has border security,  that promotes fairness.  And I want to make sure that any proposal that we have, that comes forward out of Congress, meets the requirement [inaudible] of fairness, border security, to make sure that we are not penalizing people who are actually trying to get through the system legally.

BROWN:  One of the things that came up last night, and I don’t even know if you can answer this in the next minute in a half, but, what’s different, and what assurances would I or anybody else who think the this issue at least ought to be addressed, that we’re not going to get rolled over like President Reagan did back in the 80’s?

GARDNER:  Well, and that’s where we [inaudible] do the right job of putting a policy in place that doesn’t just delay a problem or create a problem in ten to twenty years.  And I don’t know that we’re there yet with the policies that have been put forward.  But that’s a very serious point that you bring up and something that is going to have to be addressed and people have to feel satisfied with it, [that] it’s not just delaying a bigger problem.

BROWN:  Do you have any opinion or thoughts on how we can literally secure the borders?

GARDNER:  I think there are a number of ways that we can secure the borders.  We are doing it right now with additional personnel, and do we need additional personnel on the border; whether we need some kind of electronic enforcement; do we need a better system of knowing who’d coming in and out, those can be done electronically, those can be done physically, with personnel on the border.  But they’re all parts of a broader solution that I think needs to be put in place.

BROWN:  So, one last question – and this is probably the most serious question of the evening, and I want – like you wouldn’t give me an honest answer, but you can make big news tonight by answering this correctly:  Have you ever seen the President of the United States, Barak Obama, shoot skeet?

GARDNER:  Ha!  I have never seen the President shoot skeet!  I know that Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee offered the opportunity to shoot skeet with the President, but I would welcome the opportunity as well.

BROWN:  So, right now, you’re making news.  You’re saying, you too, — if the President – he flies over Colorado all the time going out to Las Vegas,– if you could get him to land, somewhere, you would take him skeet shooting?

GARDNER:  I’d take him skeet shooting!  We have great pheasant hunting on the Eastern Plains.  We’d have a good time!

BROWN:  Let’s you and I take him pheasant and quail hunting!  You want to do that?

GARDNER:  Sounds good to me!

BROWN:  Congressman, thanks for your time!  Keep up the hard work.

GARDNER:  Thank you, sir!  Take care!

BROWN:  Hey, you too!  Congressman Cory Gardner on the Michael Brown Show.  […]