Posted on 05/20/2006 8:00:14 AM PDT by July 4th
She's a nurse who likes target shooting and teaches gun safety classes. He's an engineer and deer hunter.
When in Michigan, she'll pack a .357 Smith & Wesson for personal protection, while he sees no need to carry a concealed weapon.
"I'm usually with her," Don Burns said, pointing to his wife, Christine. "And she's a better shot."
The Burnses, from the Upper Peninsula town of Channing, are your quiet, ordinary, card-carrying members of the National Rifle Association - and proud of it.
Friday, the Burnses, and thousands of others like them, trooped through the Midwest Airlines Center as the NRA convention opened its three-day stand in Milwaukee.
It is a big event, in every way, from the sea of guns and gear spread across the convention center to NRA rock star Ted Nugent playing "The Star-Spangled Banner" on his guitar during opening ceremonies at the U.S. Cellular Arena.
Later, Nugent roared to the crowd, "The culture war is a piñata, and I'm bringing a crowbar."
The Burnses, like a lot of members, say the NRA has gotten a bad rap over the years.
"Everyone here is truly a citizen against gun violence," Christine Burns, 58, said. "We promote safety, hunting and the traditional values."
" . . . Self-protection, the right to bear arms," Don Burns, 62, continued.
The couple has been married 34 years. On their first wedding anniversary, she gave him a lifetime NRA membership.
"I think it cost $275," she said. "And that was a lot of money."
This is the third NRA convention for the Burnses. It is the first for Julie Vance, a 43-year-old chiropractor from Milwaukee.
"It's like Mecca, like coming home, like the mother ship," Vance said.
Vance acknowledged she sometimes has to explain her NRA membership to friends who oppose gun ownership and who view the NRA with alarm.
"What I do is assure them it's nothing like what the media portrays," said Vance, who recently took up competitive shooting. "Most people fear guns. What I've learned in the last year, year and a half, is there is nothing to fear."
Vance made her way through the convention center and bought electronic earplugs and a book on "Advanced Combat Shotgun."
There was a lot to see.
The handguns, shotguns and rifles on display - not for sale, but there were plenty of catalogs - included Glocks and Remingtons, Khars and Benellis. There was even a Barrett .50-caliber 82A1CQ Rifle System. Retail price: $7,775.
There were hunting knives and decoys, optics and earplugs, a stuffed moose head the size of a refrigerator and a $25,000 replica Confederate Army cannon that Chip Beckford, a member of the North-South Skirmish Association, keeps in his garage in Sheboygan County.
Over at the Second Amendment Foundation booth, they were selling bumper stickers with remarks such as "I Love My Country But I Fear My Government" and "Warning: Driver Only Carries $20.00 Worth of Ammunition."
At the NRA store, $50 shooting vests and $10 kids' T-shirts were for sale, along with NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre's book "The Global War on Your Guns: Inside the U.N. Plan to Destroy the Bill of Rights."
Many at the show, though, preferred to sidestep politics and focus on the sporting and family aspect. On the ground floor, parents and children fired air guns on an indoor range, the ping of pellets clanging in the air.
In the main hall, a few mothers rolled strollers and families gathered by gun displays.
Scott Galbraith, 36, of Howards Grove attended the show with his wife, Melissa, 32, and their children, Steven, 11, Caleb, 9, Jessica, 7, and Abby, 4.
Galbraith said he educates his kids about guns "to cover the basics, the safety issues." The two older boys have BB guns and the oldest daughter "is waiting for hers," their mom said.
"I think people fear what they don't know," Melissa Galbraith said. "I knew that I grew up and guns were something to be afraid of. But when you hold it and learn how to use it, you're not afraid of it. We're actually controlling it."
Melissa Galbraith said she "shoots some."
"I have a Smith & Wesson .44" she said.
WI Gov Jim Doyle's(D) Welcome statement. Call his office at 608-266-1212 and leave a message.
At the same time, what concerns the vast majority of Wisconsin families is keeping our kids and our communities safe. We are deeply concerned about the NRA's zealous support of legislation that would allow loaded, hidden guns at playgrounds, shopping malls, and school zones. The overwhelming majority of law enforcement in our state also vigorously opposes this NRA backed plan, fearing it will put our kids, our cops, and our communities at extreme risk.
"As the NRA gathers in Milwaukee, I'm challenging them to rethink their support for a proposal that is so strongly opposed by law enforcement and the vast majority of Wisconsin citizens. Instead of making it legal to carry a concealed weapon into a daycare center, we ought to be focused on ways to help middle class families afford to buy a home and enjoy all the good things life in our state has to offer."
I'm not an NRA member nor a gun owner, but I have been contributing to the NRA ever since their 2004 election ad showing a nose-in-the-air poodle wearing a sweater with "Kerry" on it and captioned with the phrase: "This dog don't hunt." I laughed the whole time I was writing out a check to the NRA, and have been doing so ever since.
Oh, yeah; I forgot - ""helping middle class families afford to buy a home and enjoy all the good things" is part of the Second Amendment, too. What a dope!
Bump.
And they let him continue to stand the podium and talk. I think I would have interrupted and said. "Your 'help' is no longer needed. Please leave the premises unless you have a ticket."
Join it is only 35 dollars a year. We need all the help we can get. The more members the greater our influence. My goodness their are around 80,000,000 million gun owners why do only 4 million join. If had just half join we would never have to worry about gun control laws like we do now.
I don't know about that. At its present membership level, the NRA doesn't take a very strong stand on the issues. Maybe if they had the clout of 40 Million members they would take a different tack, but maybe not.
Four million NRA members doing what seventy six million gun owners are too lazy to do.
Wow, with all those guns in Milwaukee it must have been a bloodbath!
Go buy a gun buddy! You can get a decent pump shotgun for under $300 at many stores!
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