Posted on 10/27/2008 4:52:57 PM PDT by neverdem
NRA hopes to seal election by painting Obama as no friend of the firearm
The National Rifle Association is pouring money and manpower into Nevada — the state’s 3rd Congressional District in particular — in hopes of defeating Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and carrying Republican Rep. Jon Porter to a fourth term in Congress.
The group is spending $40 million nationwide this election season to tell its 4 million members — and tens of millions more gun owners — Obama would be the most anti-gun president in history. In Southern Nevada, the NRA has organized 60 volunteers to promote early voting and absentee balloting. Through last week, they had made 3,800 phone calls, visited 1,800 households and dropped 11,500 pieces of campaign literature throughout the Las Vegas Valley.
The group would not say how many members it has in Nevada.
“We want voters to know that when Barack Obama talks about gun rights, when he talks about the Second Amendment, it’s plain campaign rhetoric,” NRA national spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said. “He has a lifetime record of opposing gun rights and supporting gun control. To NRA members, voting records matter — and they matter more than what a politician says when he’s running for president.”
The NRA chose Reno as one of four cities to announce its endorsement of Sen. John McCain this month and is running radio, TV and print ads in Nevada, in addition to an ambitious get out-the-vote effort. The group says it registered to vote more than 1 million gun owners nationally in the past year.
The NRA has been a potent political force in past elections. Some Democrats attribute Al Gore’s loss in 2000 in part to the group’s efforts in Tennessee, West Virginia and Arkansas. In 2000 and 2004, gun owners favored George W. Bush by an overwhelming 30 percent margin.
Though the group’s effect on past Nevada races is unclear, its efforts could be an important boost for McCain and Porter this cycle, said University of Nevada, Reno, political scientist Eric Herzik.
“If it looks like there’s going to be a surge of new Democratic voters linked to Obama, it becomes even more critical the Republican base shows up,” he said. “You’re not going to convert an anti-gun Obama person to walk away, but you will certainly reinforce the Second Amendment guys. You pull back those leaners.”
This year, the NRA created a Web site — GunBaNObama.com — and argues that Obama will, among other things, appoint anti-gun Supreme Court justices. When the high court threw out the handgun ban in Washington, D.C., in June Obama sought a middle ground, saying he supports the right to gun ownership but also the right of local communities to enact “common-sense” regulations. McCain heralded the ruling, saying it was the first step toward ensuring gun rights.
The NRA points to Obama’s legislative record, highlighting his opposition as an Illinois state senator to creating a loophole for persons violating gun-registration laws if they used the firearm for self-defense. The group also cites his vote as a U.S. senator against a bill that protected gun manufacturers from lawsuits. It points to Obama’s comment this year that “bitter” voters cling to guns and religion.
Recognizing a weakness, Obama recently called that comment his “biggest boneheaded move” and his campaign has called the NRA’s ads misleading. The Obama campaign has launched ads here emphasizing the candidate’s support for the Second Amendment.
“I believe in the Second Amendment,” he told a crowd in Elko last month. “I believe in people’s lawful right to bear arms. I will not take your shotgun away. I will not take your rifle away. I won’t take your handgun away.”
The American Hunters and Shooters Association endorsed Obama.
Among gun owners, though, the NRA’s message, through ads and mailers, is sinking in.
“He’s going to be a gun grabber, for sure,” Bill Harmon, a retired engineer, registered Republican and McCain supporter, said of Obama last week while target shooting at the Las Vegas Gun Range & Firearms Center.
Douglas Jensen, a convenience store manager and registered Democrat, stopped in to the shop to get one of his six handguns repaired. He’s voting for McCain too. “I’ve seen what he did for Illinois,” he said. “And I don’t want him to push that agenda all over the United States.”
Gun shop owners are doing their part.
At the Las Vegas Gun Range, a “NObama” T-shirt is the centerpiece of an assault rifle display. Owners Michael Morrissey and Billy Conn printed about 300 of the shirts and almost all have been sold. “We feel McCain is a better chance for us,” Morrissey said, over the sounds of muffled machine-gun fire. “There’s a theory that people have the right to protect themselves against government. Well, Obama talks about sportsmen’s rights. But that doesn’t do you any good when you’re being oppressed or someone’s kicking in the door of your house.”
Morrissey fears a reinstatement of the assault weapons ban, which expired four years ago, would hit his shop hard. “I don’t think for a minute he’s going to take away all guns. It’s not practical,” he said. “Nor do I think he would intend to, if he could.”
Backed by a wall of assault rifles, Morrissey added: “What we want to know about is all this cool stuff. This is the fun stuff. This is good money stuff. People buy these literally for fun, and that’s what we’re worried about losing.”
Outside the Gun Store on Tropicana Avenue, a sign posted above a trash can reads: “Voting for Obama? Save time. Deposit your guns here.” Inside, assistant range manager Ernie Beckwith says customers worry about an Obama presidency. The shop offers free “NOBAMA” bumper stickers, as well as ones that read “NO GUNS NO RIGHTS.”
Chris Jones, a retired welder from Henderson, said he was buying a case of ammunition because “I want to get ’em before Obama says you can’t get ’em. The only reason anybody wants to disarm you is they wish to enslave you.”
To be sure, gun owners aren’t overly enthusiastic about McCain, hence the anti-Obama thrust of the NRA campaign. The Republican supported legislation that would have mandated background checks at gun shows and campaign finance reform limiting the influence of interest groups, such as the NRA.
Stay home or vote third party. Don't be surprised with what you get.
http://www.nraila.org/media/PDFs/ObamaLetterNRAAd.pdf
If any person who owns a gun and votes for obama is a complete idiot and deserves to have their guns takenb away from them
BTTT
I just bought an AR 15 like one of those on the wall!!! Man, what a sweet shooter it is.
BTTT
Thats not paint, it's the real thing.
I agree. Problem is that they might get my and your guns banned in the process. (I know you know this, but thought it needed to be stated.)
The NRA's message? How about some credit to individuals that have the common sense to see the writing on the wall? (I am an NRA member by the way). But it seems like the MSM tries its best to portray everyone as a moron that needs some group or organization to tell it what to think. I guess that helps them to demonize the NRA if they can blame them for how Second Amendment folks think.
Anyone that has not been in a coma, either literally or metaphorically, the last 10 months knows Obama, a resident of Chicago, is no friend to gun rights advocates.
I am surprised the NRA actually comes out and endorses McClame ...after all, he has not been a “steadfast” rolemodel for the 2nd ammendment either.
As a lifelong member I would have preferred them being outspoken about Hussein the magic negro fun grabber position .. (and they have done a good job of that)
Come to think of it .. McClame has another problem .... he spit on the 1st ammendment as well. (Campaign finance)
Good think Palin is now in the picture .. I would have left the presidential box blank if it were not for her. I get him as wasted baggage.
I’ve got to do that for another stinking RINO Congresscritter i my district who has a marginal conservative score. I’ll leave that box blank for sure.
sad situation isn’t it
Their money and their future as well
Nobama is a danger to the United States of America and everything she stands for.
my rep is Mica and he’s been great , sadly I also have Christ as Gov and Martinez as senator.
County commissioner is a woman Cindy Stevenson who is republican but a huge in the pocket of land developers and contractors.
Just hoping McCain steps down after a short while and lets Palin take over
If there’s a NRA PING LIST, please add me to it........
Get rid of the RINO’s .. we still have the crier ... Voinobitch ... a RINO’s rino. We had DeWhiner (r) another stinking rino ... even the Rinos got sick and tired of him. I left his box blank. Yeah we ended up with a stinking socialist dem .. but ... don’t notice any difference.
Same with our ex Gov Taft ...not only was he a RINO, he had an IQ level around 15. Yeah .. we ended up with another dirtbag democrap (strickland) and again we haven’t seen any differnce. Gotta love that “R” behind a name. Hmmmmm funny, the affirmative action general (Powell) is the same thing ... as is Bloomberg, and a whole sh*tpot of “R’s in the senate and house. I abhor moderates ... they are worthless and dangerous.
The liberal communist mantra: keep telling a lie until people believe it to be the truth.
JoMa
seems that many Dems are running with an R at the end of their name to get elected
here in our county a Dem ran for county commissioner, he lost as this county is one of the more redder counties in Fl.
So he now ran two years later with the R at the end of his name
result
elected
Dedicated to education, safety training and supportof Illinois firearm owners
October 10, 2008
Fellow Sportsman,
Hello, my name is Rich Pearson and I have been active in the firearm rights movement for over 40 years. For
the past 15 years, I have served in the Illinois state capitol as the chief lobbyist for the Illinois State Rifle
Association.
I lobbied Barack Obama extensively while he was an Illinois State Senator. As a result of that experience, I
know Obama’s attitudes toward guns and gun owners better than anyone. The truth be told, in all my years in
the Capitol I have never met a legislator who harbors more contempt for the law-abiding firearm owner than
Barack Obama.
Although Obama claims to be an advocate for the 2nd Amendment, his voting record in the Illinois Senate paints
a very different picture. While a state senator, Obama voted for a bill that would ban nearly every hunting rifle,
shotgun and target rifle owned by Illinois citizens. That same bill would authorize the state police to raid homes
of gun owners and forcibly confiscate banned guns. Obama supported a bill that would shut down law-abiding
firearm manufacturers including Springfield Armory, Armalite, Rock River Arms and Les Baer. Obama also
voted for a bill that would prohibit law-abiding citizens from purchasing more than one gun per month.
Without a doubt, Barack Obama has proven himself to be an enemy of the law abiding firearm owner. At the
same time, Obama has proven himself to be a friend to the hardened criminal. While a state senator, Obama
voted 4 times against legislation that would allow a homeowner to use a firearm in defense of home and family.
Does Barack Obama still sound to you like a “friend” of the law-abiding gun owner?
And speaking of friends, you can always tell a person by the company they keep. Obama counts among his
friends the Rev. Michael Pfleger - a renegade Chicago priest who has openly called for the murder of gun shop
owners and pro-gun legislators. Then there is his buddy Richard Daley, the mayor of Chicago who has declared
that if it were up to him, nobody would be allowed to own a gun. And let’s not forget Obama’s pal George
Soros - the guy who has pumped millions of dollars into the UN’s international effort to disarm law-abiding
citizens.
Obama has shown that he is more than willing to use other people’s money to fund his campaign to take your
guns away from you. While a board member of the leftist Joyce Foundation, Barack Obama wrote checks for
tens of millions of dollars to extremist gun control organizations such as the Illinois Council Against Handgun
Violence and the Violence Policy Center.
Does Barack Obama still sound to you like a “friend” of the law-abiding gun owner?
420 E. Locust, P.O. Box 637, Chatsworth, IL 60921
Phone: (815) 635-3198 or (815) 635-3166 Fax: (815) 635-3723 Website: www.isra.org
Open Letter to Sportsmen:10/10/08:page 2
By now, I’m sure that many of you have received mailings from an organization called “American Hunters
and Shooters Association(AHSA)” talking about what a swell fellow Obama is and how he honors the 2nd
Amendment and how you will never have to worry about Obama coming to take your guns. Let me make it
perfectly clear - everything the AHSA says about Obama is pure hogwash. The AHSA is headed by a group
of left-wing elitists who subscribe to the British view of hunting and shooting. That is, a state of affairs where
hunting and shooting are reserved for the wealthy upper-crust who can afford guided hunts on exclusive private
reserves. The AHSA is not your friend, never will be.
In closing, I’d like to remind you that I’m a guy who has actually gone nose to nose with Obama on gun rights
issues. The Obama I know cannot even begin to identify with this nation’s outdoor traditions. The Obama I
know sees you, the law abiding gun owner, as nothing but a low-class lummox who is easily swayed by the
flash of a smile and a ration of rosy rhetoric. The Obama I know is a stony-faced liar who has honed his skill at
getting what he wants - so long as people are willing to give it to him.
That’s the Barack Obama I know.
Sincerely,
(original signed)
Richard A. Pearson
Executive Director
Illinois State Rifle Association
There is a readio ad running in the Reno market:
A guy who calls himself “Tony Dean” claims to be a sportsman, a life-long NRA member, and active in hunting and fishing.
He claims he voted Republican all his life, but that this year he is voting for Nobama.
Dean claims that Nobama isn’t going to tamper with the 2nd amendment, and that probably McCain won’t either, but that McCain is sending our jobs overseas, and Nobama will keep our jobs here.
Is this guy really a well-known sportsman? Is he really a lifetime NRA member?
I smell a rat with his “story”.
For one thing—John McCain hasn’t sent “any jobs overseas”.
McCain doesn’t own or run a business. Business sends work overseas for a number of reasons. Keep raising taxes on a decent size business, and in order to keep sending dividends to their shareholders, they must cut other costs as they can. Union demands also cause shcu shifts in who gets employed.
I don’t believe this jerk, but some people in the area keep telling me that nobama won’t bother with our guns, and I say BS. It will be on the top on his socialist agenda, because anyone with a gun is a detriment to his enacting socialist policies.
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