When did you join the NRA


 

 

I've been a hunter all my life, not frequently, but as a boy, when I worked on a ranch in Idaho, we used to go out shooting rabbits, because they were eating all the barley, and I got pretty good with a single shot .22 rifle, and been quail hunting more recently.

 

So I'm a hunter and believe in Second Amendment rights, but I also believe that assault weapons are not needed in the public population.

 

 

You've had changes on many issues, many different kinds of issues.

 

 

 

 

As you get older and you have experience -- I ran for office the first time, never having been in politics, 13 years ago against Ted Kennedy and since then I've learned a few more things.

 

I proposed, at that time, for instance, that we eliminate the Department of Education. A lot of conservatives thought that was a great idea.

 

 

I don't think that's a good idea anymore. I think we need the Department of Education. I think "No Child Left Behind" is performing a useful function in providing for testing.

 

It has a lot of errors in it and I'd like to change it, but I like the fact that we're testing our kids.

 

So some things are more conservative, some things are less conservative.

 

 

 

And I know a lot of conservatives who disagree with me on that. On immigration, for instance, I think everybody who's not a legal resident of this country should have a card, an identification card. Some people don't like that idea.

 

On the area of stem cell research...