Station: 630 K-HOW

Show: Caplis & Silverman Show

Guest: Cory Gardner

Link: http://bit.ly/jFa2vU

Date: 1/10/2011

Topics: Gabrielle Giffords, 2^nd amendment, gun control.

Click Here for Audio

Caplis: Obviously the starting point question is this going to change the way you do business?  Is this going to make you less willing to meet with your constituents, to meet with them directly?  Are you and other members of Congress now going to run them through metal detectors before you meet with them?

Gardner: Well you said it, this is a deranged individual.  What happened in Arizona is truly tragic and Craig said it to, there is no place for this kind of behavior in civil society and that’s that. So no it is not going to change how we interact with the public. I believe the people in the fourth congressional district deserve a member of Congress who is going to be responsive and meet with them eye-to-eye, face-to-face on any number of issues that we will be discussing over the next two years.  But what happened in Arizona is truly tragic and it cannot be accepted.

Silverman: Right and we have to take steps to prevent it. Like locking up people who make serious threats so that they do not carry them out.

Gardner: The capital police in their e-mail shortly after the incident said we just need to take reasonable and prudent security measures and I think that makes a lot of sense and that is exactly the kind of thing that we ought to be doing.

Silverman: Right. Law-enforcement, they might say it’s the first amendment, we are not going to chase down a serious threat but if they are talking about killing somebody or if they cross a certain line and we all can pretty much know where that line is.  What I don’t understand, it’s about security. Corey Gardner, now you were a congressman but you have been around state government, you have probably been around the mayor of Denver.  The mayor of Denver has security with them at all times. The governor of Colorado has a security detail. Why not you as a congressman? Why should you be so much more accessible?

Gardner: If you look at what has happened even if the Colorado Capital just a few years ago where a individual tried to get into the lieutenant governor’s office and was killed within the halls of the Colorado Capital, we are not going to be able to stop everything but we need to be reasonable and we can’t let it interfere with our ability and our work to represent the people.

Silverman: Congressman, Jared Loughner, this mentally disturbed 22-year-old had already been rejected by the military but he walked into sportsman warehouse and he bought a glock semi-automatic handgun capable of holding 30 bullets and he had had other magazine that he purchased as well. I know you’re a big Second Amendment guy and the U.S. Supreme Court has recently handed victories to your side of these arguments.  But isn’t there something that we can do to stop the Jared Loughners of the world from acquiring a handgun like that so easily?

Gardner: I think that that is…there are going to be many people who are going to be trying to answer that question. But I believe this is a deranged individual and deranged individuals will do deranged things, no matter what you do. So the question for us now is not what we ought to try to be…the political action that should be taken, but what we can do to send our thoughts and prayers to those in Arizona who lost their lives and to pray for Gabrielle Giffords and her recovery.

Caplis: Hmm. Congressman Gardner, our special guest. Congressman, to me it seems fundamentally unfair that many in the mass media have introduced Sara Palin and talk radio into this conversation is some sort of legitimate possibility without a shred of evidence and with evidence directly to the contrary that this deranged maniac was communicating with this Congresswoman’s office years before Sra Palin appeared on the national scene that the worship Satan at an alter in his backyard. So not only is there a lack of evidence that should preclude any decent person from even raising Sara Palin, talk radio, etc. in the conversation but there is a flood of evidence that points in other directions.

Gardner: That is where people who wish to jump the starting line and try to politicize and point fingers need simply to remind themselves that we all agree that this kind of action has no place in our society and what we can do together to really change the civil discourse that is taken place so that it doesn’t occur but politicizing and pointing fingers is not going to answer that question.

Silverman: Right, we have talked about it several days and Corey Gardner, our special guest; he got elected to replace Betsy Markey. That was one of the gun sight races. I don’t know if you took a public position at the time. I know I said I didn’t think it was appropriate. You just don’t kid around about guns. And I know Democrats have done it too, with gun sights and targeting, but nobody as high profile as Sara Palin. Given that your district was one of those gun sight districts just like Gabby Gifford’s was, what are your thoughts about whether that was appropriate or not?

Gardner: I am not going to try to speculate about something that happened a year ago on the campaign. What I do know and what I said before is this kind of activity is unacceptable and can we and ought we be more civil in our actions towards each other and be respectful towards our counterparts and colleagues on both sides of the aisle? You bet. I think trying to point fingers again like I just said is not the way we need to proceed from this.

Caplis: Congressman, thank you for your time today and keep up the great work.