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:

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:

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.