Yes, the NRA leaders put their economic interests before the economic interests of America's gun owners.

As widely reported, this year, the NRA is spending $40 million to defeat Barack Obama. But why? Obama isn't a threat to anyone's gun. But, John McCain is a threat to the economic future of most Americans.

The leaders of the NRA are very well paid - as are their legions of consultants. In the book, Ricochet: Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist, Richard Feldman documents the excessive salaries and cushy lifestyles of the NRA elite--they're doing very well for themselves, trust me.

In contrast, most Americans aren't.

I said that in the radio ad I did for the Obama campaign, which was running in battleground states. This year is different. In June, the Supreme Court made it crystal clear that our gun rights are finally protected by the United States Constitution.

Now, we need to protect our jobs, our environment, and our future. Don't expect any help from the current NRA leadership with any of that. They're only putting their interests first. If the NRA cared about gun owners, they'd be honest about the great victory for gun owners in the D.C. gun ban decision -- but they aren't. They're ignoring that case and playing their same old political games.

That's why I was so happy to see earlier this week that the United Mine Workers are fighting back. They get it:

Union leaders say a National Rifle Association film crew tried to coerce West Virginia miners into bad-mouthing Presidential hopeful Barack Obama on camera, and that the union plans a brief work stoppage in protest.

The United Mine Workers will call for the stoppage at Consol's Blacksville No. 2 mine next week, union President Cecil Roberts said Monday at a news conference with representatives of Obama's West Virginia campaign in Charleston.

Roberts said the union, which has endorsed Democrat Obama for president, is unhappy that Consol allowed the camera crew to ask miners leading questions about the candidate such as: "What do you think about losing your Second Amendment rights?"

"This, I think, is an attempt to try to twist the facts here," he said. "We're just hoping people aren't misled."

The NRA is spending millions to mislead people. Three independent sources-- FactCheck.org, CNNand the Washington Post, have found the NRA's ads misleading and false. The NRA is an embarrassment to the gun owners.

From his penthouse office to the private jets and the huge salary, the NRA's top honcho, Wayne LaPierre, lives very well. Wayne also has the luxury of spending millions from his members on lies in order to keep his job secure. But, gun owners can't let those NRA lies cost them their jobs. Not this time.

I'm committed to getting this message out. Last week, I was in Southern Ohio campaigning for the Obama/Biden ticket. I'll be on the road campaigning for Obama over the next couple days in Colorado and New Mexico. Gun owners can't afford to be fooled this year. And, we won't be.

Last week, I spent some time in Southern Ohio on behalf of the Obama campaign. My mission was simple: To assure my fellow gun owners about Obama's gun record and to talk up the need to
focus on conservation:

"As a gun rights organization, we believe gun rights should be protected, and it's a right we feel strongly about," Schoenke said, adding he doesn't believe an administration under Barack Obama would decrease gun ownership rights.

"The Supreme Court has ruled the government can't take your guns away," he said. "Neither party is going to take your guns away."

One thing struck has me about the NRA's rhetoric this year: The NRA is ignoring that recent monumental Supreme Court decision in Heller v. District of Columbia, which finally held that the right to keep and bear arms is, in fact, an individual right. They are acting like it never happened. It's another lie -- a lie of omission. Here at American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA), we filed an amicus brief in the Heller case. It was historic -- and the result we wanted.

It was widely asserted that the leadership of the NRA never wanted that case to move forward. Now, after gun owners won a stunning victory, the NRA hierarchy is essentially ignoring the result.

Reading through the NRA's anti-Obama mailings and watching the group's ads, one would think nothing has changed since the previous election. Every four years, the leaders of the NRA haul out the same old attacks against the Democratic presidential candidate. They don't let facts get in the way. Instead, Wayne LaPierre and his partisan cronies use their members' resources to launch the same old false partisan attacks.

This year, the ads and mailings against Obama from the NRA just don't hold water according to independent sources. Factcheck.org reported "A National Rifle Association advertising campaign distorts Obama's position on gun control beyond recognition." The Washington Post wrote "The NRA misfires on this one" and awarded the group "three Pinnocchios."

This year should be different. Gun owners got the critical ruling we've long sought from the U.S. Supreme Court by winning the D.C. gun ban case. Our gun rights are protected from Congress and the White House. But, the NRA is acting like that decision never happened and doesn't really count- but it did and it does-period! That's why the usual attacks won't work this year. Gun owners are more aware of what's really going on than the NRA leaders think. We know our gun rights now are safe, and now we want to secure our economy and protect our environment getting this country headed back in the right direction.

The leadership of the NRA is living in the past. They're doing a double disservice to gun owners who are fighting for the environment and fighting for their jobs. LaPierre needs a new act because this one has gotten really old. It might make his right wing friends happy, but it's failing the nation's hundred million gun owners miserably.

I live in a fairly typical American family when it comes to guns. Let's just say my wife and I have different views. My wife doesn't hunt. She doesn't even like guns. But, she does appreciate my love for hunting and guns - and we share a deep commitment to preserving our environment. And, I accept that she was a financial supporter of the Brady Campaign. And, I also support her and respect her opinions. On guns, we're like James Carville and Mary Matalin - happily married, on different sides, but still respectful of each others' views.

Over the years, I've also learned that my family's marital division on guns is not uncommon. In fact, in my travels all over the country, first playing pro football and now hunting, I've heard the same thing, surprisingly, from many of the law enforcement guys I've met. A lot of their wives don't like having guns in their homes.

Now, I, like many of my fellow gun owners, feel a responsibility to improve our nation's policies on responsible gun ownership. While I know there is a constitutionally protected right to own a gun, there are limits. I don't believe a convicted felon gang-banger has that right.

I also strongly believe we have to conserve the lands and game where we learned to hunt and shoot. Unfortunately, gun politics are dominated by the right-wing, extremist leaders of the NRA. Their intransigence to engage in any discussion with anyone who has ever disagreed with them on anything has had a detrimental effect on the hunting and shooting tradition.

The leaders of the NRA in no way represent my hunter friends and me. The advice I got from the wise people around me, like my wife, was to start talking about the people who felt the same way. There are a lot of them. That's why I started the American Hunters and Shooters (AHSA). We work to protect our guns and the lands we love, but without the rabid extremism of the NRA leadership.

At AHSA, we support the recent Supreme Court decision in Heller that proved we do have a constitutional right to keep and bear arms. That decision means we no longer have to engage in battles about the Second Amendment. Our side won. We have to use that victory as a platform to move forward to the bigger issues facing us today. That's the test for gun owners. The NRA leadership has failed that test. They want acrimony. It helps with fundraising.

At a time when gun owners need to focus on real issues, they're putting their personal partisan agendas first. You can see the proof of this in our report, RealHunters, RealConservation. There's also further proof from the NRA itself with a new vicious attack on Obama. With that group's current leaders, things will never change.

But, we can't wait for the NRA to change. Hunters and shooters have to make change happen. So just like I have to work out my gun issues with my wife, we need to find a way to put away partisan approaches to responsible gun ownership and to save the lands we love to hunt and shoot in.