WASHINGTON -- Insisting he doesn't want to become an issue for "anti-gun people," an assault weapons manufacturer quit as presidential hopeful George W. Bush's finance chairman in Maine after inquiries were made about his campaign post.
Richard E. Dyke, a political veteran who has expressed strong pro-gun views, said he resigned voluntarily Thursday after some two months on the job. Don Evans, the Bush campaign's national fund-raising chief, confirmed he accepted the resignation."I don't need anti-gun people making an issue out of it when he (Bush) has nothing to do with the business I run," Dyke said in an interview shortly after he resigned from the Texas governor's Republican presidential campaign. "I just don't want to be any baggage."
Dyke owns Bushmaster Firearms in Windham, Maine, a company that manufactures automatic weapons for government agencies, semiautomatics for public use and a rifle widely used in shooting competitions.
His company was one of nine makers of assault weapons that has been sued by a Los Angeles police officer wounded during a high-profile gun battle with bank robbers armed with such rifles.
Dyke has said gunmakers shouldn't be sued for the violence of others and dismissed child safety locks on guns as "window dressing."