Posted on 04/06/2004 12:51:37 PM PDT by kimber
| PITTSBURGH - In touting its selection of the Steel City for its 133rd annual convention, the National Rifle Association talks up the region's strong membership and Pennsylvania's rich hunting traditions. At last year's convention in Orlando, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush credited the 4 million-member NRA with helping his brother win the 2000 presidential election. "Were it not for your active involvement, it's safe to say my brother may not have been president of the United States," he said. The NRA hasn't endorsed a candidate yet, but NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre said Monday that "gun owners in massive numbers do not want to go back to the days of Clinton and Gore." Presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry, he said, "is certainly no friend of the Second Amendment." NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said "Pennsylvania is going to be a battleground state again. We certainly will be working to activate our base." Although Democratic nominee Al Gore defeated Bush in Pennsylvania in 2000 by four percentage points, Arulanandam said the decision to hold its convention here wasn't made because of that. Host cities are selected five to six years out, he said. Events at "Freedom's Steel," which runs April 16 through April 20 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, include a prayer breakfast; a game call challenge; and sessions on women's wear and wilderness gear, methods of concealed carrying, and hunts in Africa. The NRA expects nearly 60,000 people to attend. LaPierre said the convention would be "a celebration of this American freedom to own firearms and hunt" and would reflect on the expansion of gun rights over the past 25 years. Back then, he said, only a handful of states had right-to-carry laws; now 37 have them. Rocker Ted Nugent is also listed on the schedule. Vice President Dick Cheney was scheduled to be the keynote speaker, though LaPierre said he couldn't confirm whether Cheney was coming. Meanwhile, gun control advocates plan to hold their own events. They include a teach-in at the University of Pittsburgh, a candlelight vigil to remember victims of gun violence and a concert, according to Nathaniel Glosser of Confluence Against Gun Violence, a coalition of local organizations. Glosser said they will be trying to draw attention to two gun control issues: the continuation of the federal assault weapons ban and Pennsylvania's lack of "child access prevention laws." Eighteen states have some form of the law, which holds gun owners responsible if children have their gun. The accidental fatal shooting of a letter carrier last summer by a 9-year-old boy in suburban Pittsburgh underscores the need for such a law, Glosser said. The boy's mother, Latoya Burnette, is charged with illegally possessing a handgun under federal law. She was not permitted to have it after her 2000 conviction for assault with a deadly weapon in North Carolina. "We're not antigun. We're not against the responsible ownership of firearms," Glosser said. "We're in favor of laws that will keep guns out of the hands of children, the mentally ill and criminals." LaPierre said states can already prosecute such cases under criminal negligence laws. The assault weapons ban, which expires September, is "nothing but an incremental effort to ban more firearms," Arulanandam said. "We feel that this is an ineffective law based on studies by the Clinton Justice Department, that this law is ineffective in reducing crime," he said. "We feel it ought to sunset." |
We are winning ~ the bad guys are losing ~ trolls, terrorists, democrats and the mainstream media are sad ~ very sad!
We are winning ~ the bad guys are losing ~ trolls, terrorists, democrats and the mainstream media are sad ~ very sad!
"There are none so blind as those who will not see. There are none so deaf as those who will not hear."
Licenses for Migrants Urge [Florida's Bush joins licenses for illegals insanity]
The Dream Act & The Student Adjustment Act
Congress to TSA: Arm More Pilots or Suffer Consequences
As a republican, do you support these issues?
I Like GWB, support him 100% and will be working for his reelection!
You evidently don't like and will not be voting for him.
Continuing this goofy conversation is not appropriate ~ bye, bye.
We are winning ~ the bad guys are losing ~ trolls, terrorists, democrats and the mainstream media are sad ~ very sad!
You haven't ever told me this.
I Like GWB, support him 100% and will be working for his reelection!
Does this mean you support him 100% in granting amnesty for the illegal aliens already here?
How about his position on renewing the AWB? Do you support him 100% here, too?
And his foot-dragging on allowing the TSA to arm airline pilots? Do you support him 100% here?
You evidently don't like and will not be voting for him.
Continuing this goofy conversation is not appropriate ~ bye, bye.
I did notice that at no time did you address the content of any of my posts. This isn't surprising considering that the position you support is indefensible.
But, if you're going to run away and cry, go ahead. I release you from answering my questions.
"Does a person gain anything if he wins the whole world but loses his soul?" (Mark 8:36 and 37).
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