"MEET THE PRESS" NBC-TV 867

you have appointed General Milton Reckord, the former Adjutant
General, who also happens to be a long-time member and official of
the National Rifle Association, as your special representative on a
legislative council subcommittee studying the subject of gun control.
General Reckord has said that he agrees in general with the NRA's
opposition to comprehensive gun control legislation.

What was your purpose in appointing him? Do you think he repre-
sents the public mood?

Governor Agnew: No. General Reckord worked with me when I
was the chief elected official of one of the largest counties in Maryland
in this same subject matter, and he was successful in bringing public
opinion together in the submission of a bill that was approved. He
also worked at the State level for the Maryland gun control law which
was enacted in 1966, and I don't think it is quite fair to identify him
merely as a member or an officer of the National Rifle Association.
He is a former Adjutant General of the State of Maryland, who has
had a very distinguished public career, assisting the Maryland govern-
ment in many ways. I feel after discussing the problem of control with
him that he is definitely in favor of tightening up control in some
ways, particularly in the way of a waiting period with adequate time
for the police to investigate applicants who want to purchase weap-
ons — a waiting period with fingerprinting of the applicants so they
can be identified through the FBI files.

What I am worrying about in gun control is there is too much of
a tendency to reach out without adequate examination of the subject
matter, in emotional reaction to the tragic assassination that recently
happened, and possibly to create regulation of an area which not only
is against the interests of the average citizen but an area which
shouldn't be this closely regulated and which will lead to abuses and
harassment of the ordinary citizen by the controlling authorities.

Mr. Furgurson: When you selected General Reckord to represent
you, did that mean that he was reflecting your opinions about gun
control? Doesn't he have a closed mind on the subject, if he has been
for so long subscribing to NRA's point of view?

Governor Agnew: Absolutely he does not have a closed mind on
the subject. There may be things that he has — elements of it which
he has gone through many discussions on and that I imagine it would
be very difficult to shift him on, but any person as well versed in the
general subject matter as General Reckord is able to modify and
temper his opinions, based on the needs of the situation. In my con-