A note for listeners, this episode contains descriptions of gun violence.

Please take care while you listen.

In October 1997, one time NRA lobbyist Richard Feldman found himself in an unlikely position.

He was at a ceremony honoring that year's top police officers in the White House Rose Garden.

Shaking hands with President Bill Clinton.

Good morning.

The American Shooting Sports Council is pleased to join you, Mr President, and these esteemed police

heroes being honored here today.

They were announcing a new initiative, trigger locks for guns, intended to protect children from accidental death or injury.

We believe devices which enhance safe storage can be useful in continuing to reduce child accidents.

It was an unusual alliance.

President Clinton had made gun regulation a key component of his

1992 presidential campaign and a top priority during his years in office.

And he wasn't exactly a friend of the NRA.

As is well known, this administration and the gun industry

from time to time have stood on different sides of various issues.

But he saw this policy as a rare opportunity to find common ground with gun manufacturers

and the NRA, which had frequently touted its national gun safety program for elementary school kids,

a campaign that featured a cartoonish mascot named Eddie Eagle.

If you see a gun, stop, don't touch.

I'm Eddie Eagle, and I like you so much.

Please be safe.

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