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July 2008
On Obama, NRA members aren't buying the NRA's tired old spin
Sure, the leaders of he National Rifle Association (NRA) are going to spend $40 million dollars of their members’ money in a campaign against Senator Barack Obama. But, we may have reached a tipping point on gun policy and gun politics. Because, according to CQ Politics, even the NRA’s own members aren’t buying the anti-Obama spin:
It is time for a change in the gun debate.
NRA members know their gun rights are safe. In the recent D.C. gun ban case, Justice Scalia, who, believe me, the gun lobby really wanted to write that critical decision, found that we do have a constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. But, in language that is consistent with the view of most gun owners, Scalia, "Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited." That’s not a surprise to most of us.
I run a progressive gun rights organization, the American Hunters and Shooters Assocation (AHSA). We welcomed the Scalia’s decision. The Court made it clear that most guns are now safe from government confiscation. That’s also the position of Barack Obama. He voted against gun confiscation in the Senate and supports an individual right to keep and bear arms. That’s why I endorsed Obama – he gets it. That’s also got the NRA worried. The group’s top political honcho, Chris Cox, told CQ Politics a couple weeks ago:
Cox and his colleagues at the NRA should be concerned. Gun owners are ready to move on and to hear from AHSA.
My guess is the NRA’s members aren’t listening to the NRA leaders because those leaders have become too entrenched in partisan politics. They’re still fighting battles from the seventies and eighties. That may be good for fundraising, but it’s not doing much for hunters and shooters.
For years, we’ve heard endlessly about the NRA’s lobbying strength. But, what do they do with all their perceived power? They're not working on issues that matter to hunters. The NRA leaders aren’t fighting to protect the Roan Plateau from drilling. The NRA leaders aren’t fighting global warming. The NRA leaders aren’t fighting to protect public access. That’s why this year is different.
Sure, Senator Obama isn't going to be perfect. But, in the new world of gun policy -- which includes public access, conservation, global warming -- we know he’s on our side. That’s more than we can say about the leaders of the NRA.
On Gun Policy, Time for Balance -- Finally
I wanted to share an op-ed I wrote for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. My main point is that the recent Supreme Court decision on the Second Amendment provides a chance to finally move forward on issues that impact hunters and shooters. My organization, the American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA), is a gun rights organization, but we believe in a balanced approach. It's time to change the extreme politics that mark the debate over American's gun policy:
The gun lobby wanted Justice Antonin Scalia to author the long-awaited decision in Heller, but when he did, he confirmed what I and most gun owners have long believed: Citizens have an individual right to keep and bear arms, not only as members of organized militias, but that right is not unlimited.
According to Justice Scalia, "Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited." He went on to say, "Nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on long-standing prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms."
Those aren't the words of a gun-control advocate; they were written by one of the most conservative justices on the bench. They undermine the NRA's all-or-nothing approach which has been so damaging to the gun debate for so long.
My organization, the American Hunters and Shooters Association, filed an amicus brief in support of Heller and against the District of Columbia's outright ban on the possession of handguns. We applauded the Supreme Court ruling.
The Heller decision signals that the gun debate in this country no longer includes the NRA's extreme right-wing position of allowing unlimited access to any gun by anyone. The court also made it clear that most guns are now safe from government confiscation. Policy makers can craft responsible and appropriate measures to ensure guns do not fall into the wrong hands or get carried into the wrong places.
This thoughtful approach by Justice Scalia is shared by the vast majority of the nation's 80 million gun owners and by Mr. Obama, who supports an individual right to own a gun but says, "The notion that somehow local jurisdictions can't initiate gun safety laws to deal with gang bangers and random shootings on the street isn't born out by our Constitution."
With Scalia's ruling, it is time to move on. We're ready to do that. So is Barack Obama. As a law professor, Obama believed the Second Amendment conferred an individual right. He also knew that right wasn't absolute. Obama is on the right track for other issues of grave concern to America's hunting community, like global warming. Unfortunately, the leaders of the NRA have chosen partisan politics over protecting our environment:
Earlier this year, 670 hunting and fishing organizations, including the hunters and shooters association, became actively engaged in the fight against global warming. We see the effects firsthand. Hunters like me can tell you that the ducks are coming later and later every year.
The NRA was absent. In fact, NRA leaders actively undermine the efforts of hunting and fishing groups. NRA board member Grover Norquist, through his group, Americans for Taxpayer Reform, co-sponsored a conference for self-proclaimed global warming "skeptics."
At the hunters and shooters association, we aren't going to spend $40 million on tired partisan politics. What we spend goes to actually protecting your right to have a gun, to be safe in your home and to have a place that isn't polluted to hunt and fish. The voices of ordinary hunters and shooters are finally being heard.
Mr. Obama isn't perfect, but he believes the Second Amendment confers an individual right to own a gun, although he doesn't think it protects "gang bangers." This position, plus his commitment to protecting our natural resources and our hunting and shooting heritage, makes sense to me and millions of other responsible gun owners.
Obama is on the right side of the real gun issues in 2008
Earlier this year, on behalf of the American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA), I endorsed Barack Obama for President. My message was simple: He gets it. And, the NRA doesn't.
See, contrary to the punditry’s view of guns, the NRA doesn’t speak for all gunowners. In fact, the NRA leaders consistently ignore the concerns of our nation’s hunters and sportsmen and women.
They’re at it again. Officials at the NRA recently announced plans to spend millions and millions of its member’s money against Barack Obama. But a funny thing is happening. NRA’s members aren’t buying it according to a report in CQ Politics:
A week later, in a follow-up to its backers, the organization said it had been surprised by some responses. "Amazingly, some people still don’t believe Obama is radically anti-gun," the e-mail stated, "and some have gone so far as to claim that NRA was actually misrepresenting Obama’s anti-gun positions."
In the Heller case (the D.C. gun ban), the Supreme Court ruled that government can’t confiscate our guns. That debate is finally over. But, the NRA leadership wants to keep fighting the gun rights battle that we’ve already won. They’re going backwards. As a gun rights organization, AHSA strongly supports the decision in the Heller case – and we think it’s time for new leadership on gun issues. We’re ready to move on to address the issues that continue to affect gun owners including conservation, global warming and community safety.
A lot of the huffing and puffing from the NRA should have dissipated after Justice Scalia found that gun ownership is an individual right. Barack Obama, a former constitutional law professor, supports that view. It’s hard to stir up gun owners when they know their rights are constitutionally protected and Obama is on the right side. So, the hysteria promoted by the NRA’s leaders is starting to fall on deaf ears. And, there’s another reason: My organization, AHSA, has challenged the NRA’s monolithic voice and started speaking about the real issues facing America’s guns owners, which include global warming, public lands, resource conservation and community safety.
Even the NRA’s top politico had to admit that AHSA is a challenge to his group:
We’re not going to sit back and let the NRA’s leadership define the gun issue anymore. They’ve had their chance and for the past several decades have chose partisan politics over sound policy. Our Executive Director, Bob Ricker, summed up the situation to CQ Politics:
Those issues do have the NRA leaders worried, but not in the right way. But, the NRA is worried about its political position, not worried about the issues of importance to most gun. the NRA’s leaders have long ignored conservation, public access, global warming and community safety. In fact, the group actively fights the issues that concern America’s hunters. For example, while 670 hunting and fishing groups organized to fight climate change, NRA Board Member Grover Norquist was using his organization’s resources to fund a conference for global warming "skeptics."
The NRA leadership should be concerned as Bill Schneider at New West explains the new dynamics of the gun issue:
So, if you’re a single-issue voter, only caring about your guns and convinced government agents will arrive soon to register or confiscate them, vote for your lesser of two evils. But if you care about issues like protecting wildlife habitat so we can have something to hunt, improving hunting access, promoting alternatives to fossil fuels, keeping roadless lands roadless, reforming the 136-year-old mining law, preventing the republicans from selling off public lands, and many other conservation issues threatening the future of hunting, you might want to, as Barack Obama has already told us thousands of times, vote for change.
Obama supports the North American Wildlife Conservation Model, the backbone of wildlife management in United States, because it proclaims that wildlife is in the public trust, not owned by private landowners. That right there should be enough for hunters support Obama, but there is a lot more.
There is a lot more and that is why the NRA leaders are worried. They’re out of touch – and represent the past. Also, they’ve finally met their match. AHSA speaks for gun owners who care about gun rights but understand that it’s not worth having a gun if there’s no place to shoot or no game to hunt. Barack Obama understands that. The NRA doesn’t. The gun issue is much broader than the NRA’s very narrow and very self-interested definition. Sure, the NRA will keep trying to scare its members into giving more money so they can play the same political games. But, most gun owners know that it’s time for a change.