Posted on 09/04/2008 1:45:28 PM PDT by neverdem
Gun rights groups are planning a busy election season.
To maintain momentum gained from the Supreme Court’s ruling in June striking down the District of Columbia’s handgun ban and declaring that the Second Amendment grants individuals a right to own firearms, the gun groups have launched the most ambitious voter registration and education drives they’ve ever attempted. Congressional election endorsements from the National Rifle Association (NRA) are due this month. Also on tap is a media blitz by multiple groups in competitive districts.
At the Republican convention, strategic planning is under way.
“It’s a chance for us to sit down and buttonhole the candidates on legislative matters,” said Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
While the Supreme Court ruling has helped the groups boost their membership, the narrow 5-4 ruling on the D.C. handgun case underscores the importance to gun rights advocates of future Supreme Court appointments.
“They’re energized, they’re heartened and they’re happy,” said Andrew Arulanandam, an NRA spokesman. “But they also recognize it was a slim victory.”
Arulanandam said the NRA will also conduct mailings, advertisements and news conferences. And it will issue congressional endorsements in most districts.
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms does not engage directly in partisan politics but conducts voter education efforts. Gottlieb declined to divulge specific election plans but said the committee will focus on tight races, posting congressional voting records and ratings on its Web site “to let people know who’s a friend.”
The group also may use advertising, direct mail, speaking engagements and media appearances. And its voter registration campaign is under way, mostly at gun shows, Gottlieb said.
Also active in voter education and registration is the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for some 4,500 firms in the firearms industry.
A relatively new gun owners group, the American Hunters and Shooters Association, is focused on conservation and has criticized the NRA and other groups for promoting political candidates who are strong on gun rights but not on protecting hunting areas from developers.
“What good is your gun if there’s nowhere to hunt?” said John Robinson, the association’s chief of staff.
This group, which is less than three years old, has endorsed the Democratic nominee, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, whom it sees as more supportive of conservation.
“We’re going to go and hold the NRA accountable for its statements, to make sure it is not lying about Obama’s record,” Robinson said.
Both major party presidential candidates affirm an individual’s right to own firearms. Beyond that, their records diverge on the issue.
Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona has mostly agreed with the NRA’s gun rights positions. He opposed a ban on assault weapons and voted against exposing gun manufacturers to civil lawsuits. He deviated from the NRA just twice on significant issues, when he voted to require a 72-hour waiting period for background checks on gun purchasers at gun shows and when he pushed campaign-finance legislation that gun groups considered an attack on their rights to expression.
Obama has voted to allow liability lawsuits against gunmakers. And he voted in favor of several gun-control measures in the Illinois legislature, including a ban on semi-automatic weapons.
The NRA will not endorse Obama. But it has not said whether it will endorse McCain. The group began endorsing presidential candidates in the 1980s and has done so in five of the past seven races, declining to endorse a candidate in 1992 and 1996.
And we got "the bent one." The NRA is a single issue organization, the Second Amendment. It can afford to be. We can't.
Stay home or vote third party. Don't be surprised with what you get.
he American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA) is an organization involved in advocacy for gun control.[1] Its critics claim that AHSA is a front organization aimed at dividing gun owners by pointing to AHSA members’ bias against private ownership of the most popular modern sporting firearms, and note AHSA leaders have donated money to gun control groups[2] and maintained ties to individuals and organizations who advocate gun control.[3
And Palin is what, an NRA rated A+?
Instead of throwing my vote away, I’ll happily support
McCain - Palin, knowing she is a strong 2A supporter.
Next step: equal (Alaska style equal not Illinois style) gun rights and concealed carry reprocity across all 57 states!
““What good is your gun if there’s nowhere to hunt?” said John Robinson, the association’s chief of staff.”
....what this guy wants is more free public hunting places and that’s gonna be hard given government budget issues...most guys spend more time hunting a place to hunt than they do in the field....the days of knocking on the farm house door and getting permission to hunt for free are about over....in the future it’s going to take more money than ever to hunt...leases, insurance, transportation costs, are all going up....noticed the spike in ammo costs this Fall?....consequently, hunter recruitment and hunter retention are the two biggest buzz words in wildlife management today.
They should both be shut down and charged with criminal false advertising and fraud.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Hunters_and_Shooters_Association
I’m surprised their entry hasn’t been yanked.
“AHSA and Gun Guys are both Brady Front groups. They are there to misdirect and obfuscate the issues.”
....thanks for the heads up Dead Corpse....I didn’t know that.
....I’ve been a licensed hunter since 1962 and also hold a concealed carry permit...I would urge anybody who is on the fence about guns to take a gun safety course and buy one while you still can....it may get harder in the future.
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/ahsa/index?tab=articles
We've had our "eye" on these frauds for a while now...
AHSA is an Astro-Turf front group of the Joyce Foundation. Don’t be fooled. They have no more than a handful of members and are NOT friends of the Second Amendment.
And we won’t stop until the only gun law left in the nation is the Second Amendment.
But I'll take a breather to visit a few shops when 922(o) gets repealed or overturned.
Unfortunately, the AHSA view of gun rights is very similar to the Clinton/Boosh/HusseinObama/McCain/BATFE view of gun rights. IOW, the only purposes for owning guns are hunting and skeet shooting. Unfortunately, I’ve met WAY too many hunters and target shooters who seem to think that the 2A is related to their preferred pastime. A lot education is needed in that area.
Speaking of education, we are eventually going to lose our republican form of government and ALL of our constitutional rights if we don’t take back the education of our children from the pagan academies also known as communist government schools. Quite bluntly, if you are a Christian, a conservative, and/or a constitutionalist and your children are still sitting through 8 hrs of socialist indoctrination every day, you are (at best) sitting on the sidelines of the culture war.
Right on!!! the AHSA is a worthless org. They have never been interested in the 2nd ammendmnent but woul love your donation because the “appear” to be concerned. The NRA has done more the protection of 2nd ammendment rights than any other group ...my lifetime membership and donations go to them only
Oh and in case anyone is interested ... the 2nd ammendment has NOTHING to do with hunting.
I wouldn't go that far. The Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms which pre-existed the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. There can be little doubt that hunting to put food on the family's table was an essential part of survival at the time of our nation's founding.
During a time of emergency, I have the advantage over others of living in a rural environment. I would be well within my rights to hunt the deer and other edibles that wander the countryside rather than have my family suffer starvation.
Though there may not be an unlimited right to hunt, there is, in my opinion, the right to keep and bear arms for those times when hunting is essential for survival.
Who would claim that a hawk needs a license to take a squirrel? Humans have the same inalienable right to feed themselves, hunting edible prey if need be.
Bump! ;-)
Thanks for the ping. I sent my letter to the paper last night. It’s good to have as much info on these groups as possible.
I am with you on this-the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness encompasses all other rights-the 2A simply specifies that the right to arms (whether they be firearms and ammo, bladed weapons or yes, even pulse energy weapons when they replace projectile systems...) is included.
Any legitimate, moral use of arms is acceptable, whether it is defense of one's freedom from tyranny, from predatory animals (like the marauding bobcat I had to kill a few weeks back to protect my livestock) or criminally minded humans, or to feed my self and family in both nonemergency and more so in emergency situations, or competitive shooting sports (training) or plain ol tin can plinking with the kids.
God Bless and MOLON LABE!!!
And like I said before, we won’t stop until the only gun law left in the nation is the Second Amendment.
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