This section shows Dan Rather's negative view of guns. He considers the NRA a "potent" and "high-powered" organization. He wonders why the Republicans in Congress don't want to pass Democratic initiatives on gun control (which he views as not expansive enough), despite a rash of publicized shootings.

Despite his support for gun control measures, Rather knows from first-hand experience the use of guns for self-defense.

Also in this section, you'll learn how a former employee of Rather's was repeatedly portrayed as an average mom who just wanted to do something about gun violence. Besides being a former CBS employee, the woman was also an aide to Democratic senators and the sister of Hillary Clinton's top political adviser. None of this was ever disclosed by CBS.

But Dan is not the only member of his family who takes a position hostile toward gun owners. His son, Dan "Danjack" Rather, has been involved in efforts by New York City to make gun manufacturers liable for crimes committed with their products.

"We've also been digging into what ever happened to even modest gun control measures in the U.S. Congress. Apparently not much."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, November 3, 1999.

"It's been a week since a six-year-old Michigan girl was shot dead by another six-year-old. As CBS's Diana Olick reports, the little girl's death has many wondering what, if anything, more can be done and asking why Congress hasn't done anything for months."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, March 7, 2000.

"I know, as the gun lobbyists keep reminding us, guns do not kill people. People kill people. But with a gun it is a whole lot quicker."
--Dan Rather in The Camera Never Blinks, 1977.

"[The Oklahoma school shooting] focuses attention again on the Second Amendment's guarantee of the right to own guns, including handguns, and the dilemma and traditions this often is accused of causing in modern society.
The leadership of the National Rifle Association -- not all of the membership, but the leadership [Charlton Heston] -- would not want that mentioned, but there it is."
--Dan Rather in "Rather's Notebook" at the CBS News Web site, December 3, 1999.

Watch Dan Rather as he blames George W. Bush and the NRA for stopping the police from capturing the Washington sniper. Choose dialup or broadband (MPEG).

DAN RATHER: Coming up next on the CBS Evening News, Eye on America. A high-tech tool that could help police catch the sniper. And why they can't use it.
[commercial]
With a serial killer on the loose, you might think that police are using every high-tech tool to catch him. You might think that, but you would be wrong. For instance, while the police are allowed to use computers to trace the owner of a car, they are not allowed to use computers to trace the owner of a gun. One reason, bluntly put, is politics and special interest money, as CBS's Wyatt Andrews reports in tonight's Eye on America.
WYATT ANDREWS (voiceover): It's happened 11 times, the police know it's the sniper because they can track his bullet.
FIRST POLICE OFFICIAL: Ballistics evidence--
SECOND POLICE OFFICIAL:--has been linked--
THIRD POLICE OFFICIAL:--to the other murders in the area.
ANDREWS: But they don't know precisely how to track his gun. Why?
(On camera) This is not computerized?
CARL ROY (Gun store owner): No.
Andrews: Nothing about this is computerized.
ROY: No, it's individual to each dealer.
ANDREWS (voiceover): At his Maryland gun range, Carl Roy explains gun ownership records are physically kept by gun shops and still must be checked by hand. Searches for the sniper's weapon, then, are being done gun shop by gun shop, beginning with hand-written log books.
ROY: So, if I were to just go down real quick looking for 223, then I would know who purchased that weapon.
ANDREWS: But that's you going back into the storeroom, here, pulling the box--
ROY: Correct.
ANDREWS: --and the agent physically pulling the form.
ROY: Correct.
ANDREWS (voiceover): Some in Congress believe gun crimes could easily be connected to owners with what's called a ballistic fingerprint database where every gun is test-fired and the markings from its bullets recorded on computer.
Rep. ROBERT ANDREWS (D-N.J.) How crazy is this? Today in the D.C. metropolitan area, the FBI and the local police are searching through 8,000 white vans to try to find this shooter or shooters. Why search 8,000 vans when you could search for one gun if this technology were used?
ANDREWS (on camera, fires pistol): For the last two years Maryland has had a state law (fires pistol) where the brass ejected by every weapon must be submitted to the state police.
ANDREWS (voiceover): The problem with brass fingerprints, Carl Roy says, is they're not always accurate, the markings can change. That question, fingerprint accuracy, reached the White House this week where officials first downplayed the usefulness of this technology.
ARI FLEISCHER (White House Press Secretary): There are experts who have questions that have been raised about its accuracy and reliability.
ANDREWS: But backtracked the next day when the president decided it's worth a look.
FLEISCHER: The president wants this issue explored.
ANDREWS: So far, the NRA has blocked the fingerprint idea as a concept too close to national gun registration. But add this to the list of ways the sniper has had an impact: he is fast becoming a poster-child for a database of the nation's guns. In Prince George's County, Maryland, Wyatt Andrews for Eye on America.
--Dan Rather and Wyatt Andrews on the CBS Evening News, October 17, 2002.

Dan Rather, Jr.

Apparently following in the footsteps of his old man, Rather's son, Dan "Danjack" Rather Jr., a deputy district attorney in New York City, is cheering on his office's attempt to hold 10 firearms manufacturers liable for murders committed with their products. The city's lawsuit is similar to those launched by the state of New York as well as the NAACP.

"[These companies] manufacture highly powered, inexpensive guns, and those are the favorite guns of criminals," Rather told New York's Daily News Nov. 17.

The younger Rather feels strongly about what he calls "a national problem" and has denounced the gun industry several times during his ten-year stint as chief of Manhattan's firearms trafficking unit. A 1995 Daily News piece related that "Rather, who grew up in middle America where hunting and target shooting were recreational pastimes, said he doesn't believe gun stores are an American icon.

"'We're not talking about rifles for hunting or target shooting, we're talking about submachine guns, street sweepers,' he said. 'They're providing guns for hunting humans.'"

"He killed one person and wounded six others before taking his own life, all with a semi-automatic handgun that could not have been easier to buy. That...is bringing new calls for tougher handgun control laws."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, February 24, 1997.

"The heat being reflected back on the gun lobby now includes this: In Michigan a 19-year-old man was arraigned today for involuntary manslaughter. His gun was allegedly used by one first grader to kill another." "The suspect in yesterday's suburban Pittsburgh shooting spree is being charged with two homicide counts." "In Hiawatha, Kansas last night, a teenager shot and killed a deputy sheriff." "CBS's Jim Stewart reports tonight on the push and the prospects for even modest new gun control laws."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, March 2, 2000.

"President Clinton urged Congress to pass at least modest measures to try to reduce gun crimes." "Chances of that happening are slim to none, but the President said it's high time for the Congress to do more to keep guns away from criminals and children."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, March 1, 2000.

"Good evening. What a difference a day makes. The Republican-led U.S. Senate is backing off and looking for a way out just 24 hours after rejecting a modest gun control measure. The potent gun lobby and its allies in Congress are changing their strategy under wide-ranging and withering fire, especially in the wake of reaction to the Columbine High School massacre."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, May 13, 1999.

"There was a deadly ambush in Memphis today and fresh fuel for the hot campaign issue of gun control."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, March 8, 2000.

When Attorney General John Ashcroft proposed a new way to deal with background checks for guns sales, Dan Rather and Jim Stewart reported on the backlash from some people. But in doing so, they decided not to tell viewers why Ashcroft wanted the plan, or interview anyone in favor of it:
DAN RATHER: President Bush can count on the NRA among his most ardent supporters because of its pro-gun rights policies. But is the president paying a price for that backing? As CBS' Jim Stewart reports, one of the attorney general's positions is costing him the support of some people who might otherwise be his allies.
JIM STEWART: Attorney General John Ashcroft's idea to throw away all the criminal background check information on gun buyers just one day after their purchase is suddenly running into opposition from law enforcement. This week the International Brotherhood of Police Officers said they simply want more time to check sales records for criminal activity.
MARC LAWSON (International Brotherhood of Police Officers): It's an opportunity to double check, maybe even triple check, or to evaluate any glitches in the system.
STEWART: The FBI, too, under former Director Louie Freeh, is on record asking that the documents be kept for a minimum of 90 days, which is the current rule, and sources say the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was never consulted about the change and disagrees with Ashcroft.
Still, Ashcroft's proposal is just one of several recent Bush administration initiatives championed by the gun lobby. Earlier this month Undersecretary of State John Bolton opposed a small arms agreement at the UN on the grounds it would constrain arms sales by US firms.
JOHN BOLTON (State Department): The United States believes that the responsible use of firearms is a legitimate aspect of national life.
STEWART: While earlier, in a letter to the National Rifle Association, Ashcroft eagerly agreed with the NRA's constitutional interpretation of gun ownership rights, a view critics believe will only inspire more challenges to current gun control laws.
It's all enough to cheer the heart of any gun lobbyist. An NRA vice president predicted last year that if Bush were elected, they would, quote, "work out of the White House." This kind of early success, however, has to exceed even the NRA's highest expectations. Jim Stewart, CBS News, at the Justice Department.
--Dan Rather and Jim Stewart on the CBS Evening News, July 20, 2001.

"The shootings in Killeen were the latest tragedy highlighting the success of the gun lobby fighting gun control."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, October 23, 1991.
Note: A mass murder, according to Rather, highlights the success of the gun lobby.

"Around midnight I heard noises downstairs in our home in Georgetown, inside the District of Columbia. I stepped out of the bedroom on the second floor and shouted into the darkness, 'I don't know who you are or what you want, but if you don't get the hell out of here I'm going to blow your ass off. And if you don't believe me, listen to this.'
"With that I rammed a shell into the chamber of a shotgun. There is no mistaking that sound. Within seconds the intruders, or whatever they were, had fled."
--Dan Rather in The Camera Never Blinks, 1977.

Rather recounts a gun stand off while reporting on the black civil rights movement:
"One of the toughs toted a closely sawed-off shotgun. In fact, the gun was sawed off so low there was some question in my mind that if he ever fired it the thing might just explode in his face. He had pointed the shotgun down his pants leg and then he suddenly brought it up against my ribs. He said, 'You take another step, mother-fucker, and I'm going to blow you apart'.... Well, tough talk is cheap, but I knew the man wasn't kidding when I felt the pressure of the sawed-off shotgun.
   "All of this happened in seconds. In the next instant, suddenly reaching around from the other side of the camera, there appeared a .38 on a .44 base revolver. One of our crew, the sound man, had jammed the pistol against the redneck's temple.... He said to the man with the shotgun, 'Sonny, I think you want to stroll.'
   "Quickly the shotgun dropped to Sonny's side and he backed away. This tough was wide-eyed and scared. He had good reason to be. (I wasn't exactly without concern myself.) The others retreated with him.... I remember the sound man holding the gun steady and saying, as we backed toward the car, 'If you think I'm bluffing, gents, just try me."
--Dan Rather in The Camera Never Blinks, 1977.

The NRA, the "once all-powerful gun lobby..."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, May 20, 1994.

"The National Rifle Association has leveled withering fire against cities seeking damages for gun-related violence. Last week the city of Atlanta filed suit against 17 gun manufacturers. Today the Governor of Georgia, a Democrat, signed a bill backed by the high-powered lobby that prohibits such lawsuits."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, February 9, 1999.

Following the shooting of two Columbine High School students almost a year after the first massacre:
"After the latest gun tragedy in Littleton, Colorado many are asking what happened to the gun legislation promised in the wake of the Columbine massacre, we'll take a hard look tonight in our Eye on America."
--Dan Rather in an online preview of the night's Evening News, February 16, 2000.

"Against the backdrop of that Georgia school shooting today and the much more serious shooting here in Littleton last month, there was at least a minor setback today for the gun lobby and its allies in Congress. The Senate reversed course and approved a modest gun control measure."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, May 20, 1999.

"On Capitol Hill there are growing indications tonight that Senate-approved modest gun control legislation is fast losing velocity toward approval in the House. CBS's Diana Olick has the facts on the gun lobby, gun control and Congress."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, June 10, 1999.
Note: Rather never mentions that there are powerful anti-gun groups as well.

"From the president himself on down, the Clinton administration today talked about the need, not only for making it harder to get guns, especially rapid-fire ones, but for making hate crimes federal crimes."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, August 12, 1999.

RATHER: "Anniversaries this week marking the fiery end of the Waco siege, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the killings at Columbine High School, are all part of the backdrop in America's deepening debate over ways to reduce gun violence, increase gun safety. So tonight we're reporting to you in depth to try to sort the facts from smoke on a key question: Do gun laws work? and if so, how well? CBS's Vince Gonzalez has been digging for answers."
GONZALEZ: "A new study provides fresh ammunition for gun control advocates, who believe tough state gun laws save lives."
--Dan Rather and Vince Gonzalez on the CBS Evening News, April, 17, 2000.

The NAACP filed a lawsuit against some gun manufacturers:
"It was launched by one of the nation's most-respected and largest civil rights organizations."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, July 12, 1999.
Note: In 1994 Dan Rather hosted a $175-a-plate fund-raiser for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund's 40th anniversary.

"The President of the United States will be joining us tonight, where I'll talk to him one-on-one about what he's trying to do to get the legislative logjam on gun control moving--this in the wake of the high profile gun violence of [the] past two days. We'll...also bring you up to date on...the status of gun control efforts on Capitol Hill."
--Dan Rather in an online preview of the night's Evening News, March 2, 2000.

"Vince Gonzalez will take a look at a new state-by-state study of gun laws released yesterday by a group against gun violence. You may be surprised at how many states have no gun laws at all and at the relationship between gun laws and gun deaths in the fifty states.
--Dan Rather in an online preview of the Evening News, April 14, 2000

Dan Rather interviewed Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating and spoke to correspondent Bob Schieffer; Oklahoma had seen the latest school shooting:
RATHER (TO KEATING):"Governor, it's my understanding you are unalterably opposed to any kind of additional gun control, including handgun control. Is that correct?"
RATHER (TO SCHIEFFER): "So what if anything does this latest school shooting mean for prospects of getting even modest new gun control measures through Congress? CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer's been working this part of the story on Capitol Hill. Bob, after Columbine it looked for a while like Congress might do something about new gun control efforts. What happened?"
SCHIEFFER: The Senate passed a bill, "but then the National Rifle Association really stepped up the pressure on Congress. The House passed a much weaker bill."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, December 6, 1999.

"...the school shooting death in Michigan today, of a first grade girl by one of her classmates, an almost unimaginable tragedy that is bound to bring the gun control controversy to the fore."
--Dan Rather in an online preview of the night's Evening News, February 29, 2000.

In May of 2000, a coalition of gun control groups held the Million Mom March, with Dan Rather's former publicist and former aide to two Democratic senators, Donna Dees-Thomases, organizing the event. In their coverage of the event, Rather and his colleagues featured Dees-Thomases several times on-camera, but never gave any details of her background:

"Thalia Assuras will have a look ahead to this weekend's Million Mom March for gun control, and bring us the heart-breaking stories of marching mothers who have lost children to gun violence."
--Dan Rather in an online preview of the night's Evening News, May 12, 2000.

RATHER: This Sunday, Mother's Day, in Washington and dozens of other communities, women and their families will push for gun safety in what they call the Million Mom March. CBS's Thalia Assuras tells us how personal, preventable tragedy drove one mother into joining up.
ASSURAS: Nine-year-old Justin Murphy has grown into his older brother's rollerblades now, but he skates alone, a deep source of pain for his mother.
CATHY MURPHY (Mother): My son is in a one-family home with a finished attic and three bedrooms, and just him and no one else to play with.
ASSURAS: Justin would be playing with his brother and constant companion, Christopher, an 11-year-old with a love of dancing and basketball.... But two-and-a-half years ago, Christopher was killed when his next-door neighbor and friend pulled the trigger of an illegal handgun found in the house.
ASSURAS: The incident compelled Cathy Murphy to take action, and brought her out of her back yard to the front lines of gun control advocacy. She helped push through New York City's Christopher's Law; buy a gun, buy a safety lock at the same time. And this weekend, she'll be marching in the Million Mom March.
CATHY MURPHY: I didn't want anybody to feel the pain that we feel every day.
ASSURAS: Donna Dees-Thomases has heard Cathy Murphy's story and countless others like it. Last year's day-care center shooting in California drove her to organize the march.
DONNA DEES-THOMASES (Founder, Million Mom March): Look what the Mothers Against Drunk Driving did. They banned the irresponsible use of alcohol. That's all. We're trying to do the same thing with guns.
--Dan Rather and Thalia Assuras on the CBS Evening News, May 12, 2000.

RATHER: Another defining election-year issue may be picking up political steam, the push for new gun safety laws. But following yesterday's Mother's Day march in Washington and other cities, is Congress really any more likely to pass such laws? Let's get the real deal from CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer. Bob, what about it?
SCHIEFFER: Well, Dan, yesterday's turnout was impressive by any standard, and we may look back on this one as one of those demonstrations that led to real change.
DONNA DEES-THOMASES (Founder, Million Mom March): The National Rifle Association has been far more effective in getting the grass-roots involved in this issue with writing campaigns, phone-in campaigns, e-mailing campaigns. We plan to do the same thing with the moms.
SCHIEFFER: In fact, they'll take several pages from the NRA book: raise money through a Web site, endorse and oppose candidates at all levels, and set up organizations to educate the public and lobby Congress on gun issues.
The moms all but admit there's probably not enough time to have much influence on the current Congress, but if all this works, they'll have a major say on who gets elected to the next one. Dan?
RATHER: Bob Schieffer in Washington.
--Dan Rather and Bob Schieffer on the CBS Evening News, May 15, 2000.
Note: Dan Rather never mentioned that the march organizer was his former underling.

"On another health-related issue, gun violence, in our exclusive interview today I asked President Clinton about his battle with Congress over laws aimed at reducing gun crimes and the prospects for passing even modest new measures."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, April 6, 2000. print_file('footer'); ?>