H. Ross Perot was on the Larry King Live Show on CNN April 16, 1992. The following was his reply on the issue of Gun Control:
When I was a boy in Texas we all had guns but we didn't shoot one another. Now, we still all have guns but we shoot one another. What's the problem? The problem is to get the guns out of the hands of the violent people. I don't really care it you keep a patriot missle in your back yard if you're a collector, right? I don't care.
But if you shoot it I'd get worried. Alright now, now you're down to the root. You see, you never do this in Washington. I say that the first step is to define the problem. The problem is, "get the guns out of the hands of the violent people." Will registering guns do that? No. Any question in your mind that a big time dope dealer can't get any kind of weapon he wants with enough money?
Now, now we're down to the question. Bring together the law enforcement officers, the district attorneys, the judges, the National Rifle Association, all these different groups, who I already know from conversations with them, say yes, we will go to the wall with you to get the guns out of the hands of the violent people. Then we will develop a plan to do that. Then we go through the televsion, through the Town Hall. We explain that to the American people, we build a consensus, we pass the laws, and we move onto the next problem. I don't have that answer.
Larry King: Do you see maybe they will all turn in their guns?
Ross Perot: Oh, come on, no. Give me a break. I wasn't born yesterday.
Larry King: How are you going to go about finding violent people?
Ross Perot: That's what I want to figure out with everybody that really knows. See, this is the way you solve problems. Now, in Washington, you raise the problem, you have a bunch of lobbyists run up and down the hall. Nobody who knows anything about the problem passes the laws. And then it doesn't work. We'll do it if the American people, if the American people, number one, you've got to have consensus, they want to get rid of the guns? Number two, you've got to have a good plan. Number three, you get the laws passed and its done. But you've got to do the hard, detailed work, Larry. They never do that.
Larry King: You're not saying this is easy.
Nothings easy. It's, excuse me, it's kind of like making sausage too. It's not pretty. You know, it tastes better than it looks when you make it. Right?
