From the Billings Gazette; http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles ... andgun.txt
She must be getting desperate to spin a yarn like that.Story available at http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles ... andgun.txt
Published on Saturday, May 31, 2008.
Last modified on 5/31/2008 at 12:36 am
Clinton changes handgun position
By JENNIFER McKEE
Gazette State Bureau
HELENA - Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton told Montana reporters Friday that she no longer favors national handgun registration and licensing, even as she supports such measures in her adopted state of New York.
"What I came out for was the New York law," the U.S. senator said in a noon conference call Friday. "I don't think there is any contradiction between defending Second Amendment rights and trying to keep guns out of the hands of" criminals and the mentally ill.
In 2000, as she was beginning her campaign for senator from New York, Clinton came out as first lady in favor of licensing and registering of all new handguns sold in the United States. She also supported a bill that would create a registry of all guns sold in the U.S., along with requiring buyers to get a license and undergo a background check.
Clinton said Friday that guns are "reaping all kinds of damage" in some parts of the country and that governments there ought to be able to license and register handguns if it makes streets safer. But she said such laws may not be appropriate in Montana.
A spokeswoman for the campaign later confirmed that the senator has changed her opinion on handgun registration since first running for public office eight years ago.
The Clinton campaign convened the conference to unveil Clinton's "Solutions for a Stronger Montana" program. The plan includes Clinton's ideas for
health care, plans to recruit new health care workers and a plan to eliminate the controversial No Child Left Behind law, among other initiatives.
Clinton has waged a hard-fought race against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who leads Clinton in pledged delegates. Both camps have released Montana-specific plans and have made campaign stops in the days preceding Montana's Tuesday primary.
Such attention is unprecedented. Montana and South Dakota host the last primary elections in the nation Tuesday, and presidential nominating races are usually decided months before Montana's elections. The margin between Clinton and Obama is so thin that Montana's 17 Democratic delegates are highly sought after.
During the press call, Clinton also stressed her campaign's position that she is a better Democratic candidate to go against Arizona Sen. John McCain, the likely Republican nominee.
"People have to ask themselves, 'Who would be the stronger candidate?' " she said.
Regardless of Tuesday's outcome, she said, the unusually long Democratic nominating process has allowed Western states like Montana to get answers on issues important to them.
"It's a critical opportunity for a national discussion on problems that don't get much discussion," she said, "like the problems facing Indian Country" or how to develop Western coal reserves without harming the environment.
Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.
Joe
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