NEW YORK (AP) -- Bill Clinton says President Barack Obama should not "waste a minute" trying to pass gun-control legislation because the issue is partly cultural, and Obama is from an urban area.

Clinton said Thursday that Obama represented "the most liberal district in Chicago" in the Illinois state Senate.

The former president told a sustainability conference in New York City he was able to sign the 1993 Brady law instituting federal background checks on handgun buyers because he had grown up among hunters in Arkansas. He said gun-rights advocates couldn't turn him "into some freak."

Republican Mitt Romney told the National Rifle Association last week that Obama would like to erode gun owners' rights. But the topic has rarely arisen during Obama's time in office. Gun-control advocates have expressed disappointment with Obama.