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Obama and Gun Owners: Together a Winning Team
As a former professional football player, I always knew winning was much more fun. And, Tuesday’s election result was the most fun I’ve had in awhile.
First, I owe a big thanks to Plutonium Page for the post, The Left to Bear Arms, about guns and Democrats on Sunday. That post was spot on.
I don’t like to sit on the sidelines or in the stands. I always want to be in the game. And, this year, because the Obama campaign took outreach to gun owners and sportsmen seriously, we had to play in this game. The Obama campaign knew it had to work hard to get gun owners to listen and they were prepared to do the work. We had organized our team at the American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA) and we were ready when they called. I really want to congratulate my fellow members of "Sportsmen for Obama." The campaign not only supported us, but they listened, which was very important.
The campaign sent me to Ohio three times. I also went to Minnesota, Colorado and Florida. The campaign staffers in those states knew exactly what needed to be done and I’m honored to have worked with them. And, I’m even happier that those key states went to Obama.
Obama’s campaign staff left no stone unturned when it came to outreach to gun owners. In the key battleground states, they ran a radio ad – and did multiple mailings -- with me talking to gun owners. It worked. I kept talking to people who saw the mail or heard the ad. The message was clear: You can trust Obama on guns. Once that was understood – and it was understood -- gun owners were willing to look at other issues, like the economy. The success of the messaging is devastating to the NRA.
I’ve been saying for years that Democrats shouldn’t cede the gun vote to the NRA. There are over 80 million gun owners in the U.S. fewer than 3 million belong to that group. They do not speak for all of us – especially those of us who are Democrats, progressives and conservationists. That’s why I started the American Hunters and Shooters Association and why I’m ecstatic that Obama won.
Unions fought back too. I know. There were union people at just about every stop I did. But, that was especially true in Ohio where I got to work with members from the United Mine Workers, Building Trades. Plumbers and Pipefitters, the Teamsters and Sheetmetal workers. They didn’t cede their members to the NRA and it worked:
Guy Molyneux, a partner with Hart Research, noted that white men who are union members supported Mr. Obama over Mr. McCain by a margin of 18 percentage points, while for all white men, exit polls found they backed Mr. McCain by a 16 percent margin.
As for gun owners who belong to unions, he said they backed Mr. Obama by a 12 percent margin, while gun owners in the general public favored Mr. McCain by a 25 percentage points.
The leaders of the NRA launched vicious attacks on Obama, spending over $40 million. They thought they’d have a good opportunity to damage Obama’s campaign. But, they didn’t. Their ads were widely panned as misleading and dishonest. That’s their standard operating procedure – and this time, it failed. Their candidate lost. They didn’t deliver. I also took my fair share of incoming hits from the NRA and their toadies at the RNC. But, that was all just noise to me. In this game, if you’re going to talk it, you better be able to walk it.
But, I wasn’t listening to the attacks. I was playing to win because that is what matters. And, our team won!
Sometimes it helps to remind people that the police are just historians, they show up after the crime, and document what they see!
"Gun control is like trying to reduce Drunk Driving by making it tougher for sober people to own cars"
- Not a sermon just a fact.
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety. Nor, are they likely to end up with either. — Benjamin Franklin
I can understand your point of view but don't agree with everything you say. I'm from the state of NH where Senator Sununu was defeated by Jeanne Shaheen in the last senate election. Shaheen was also the governor of the state of NH. I've personally written to her office as a constiuent. I can remember her also as NH governor. I consider her winning the NH senate seat as a great lose to 2nd ammendment supporters and sportsman.
Her husband was also a top advisor for Gore and Clinton campaigns. She is not pro 2nd ammendment. I have letters from her office on her positions on gun control and also know some of her past anti 2nd ammendment past opinions as NH's governor. Her husband like I say has been a key campaigner for the most anti 2nd ammendment canidates and he has never supported a pro 2nd ammendment campaign. From her offices letter I have on 2nd ammendment issues she would also like to see more gun control laws. Maybe times are changing like you say but I disagree on your opinions on a lot of it as a fellow hunter and shooter. The NRA is also one of the best orgnizations there is for 2nd ammendment supporters and for the traditions of hunting, shooting and to ensure we have the means to protect ourselves and our families. The political campaignes you have supported with this organization are not for the heritage of hunting, shooting, and the 2nd ammendment. Sportsmen such as myself are not as enthusiastic about the current administration and losses of many political seats. Majority of the sportsmen and women I know did not vote for the campaign's this organization supported. The hunters and shooters that did vote for the politicians this organization supported, that I know, voted for them disregarding hunting and the 2nd ammendment. They voted for these politicians hoping they were the right canidates to change the economy. Just my point of view and opinion on this article.
Yeah, I was once a member of the NRA, for only one year, and they seemed to really heavily endorse Republicans moreso than Democrats, as if all Democrats are a bunch of gun control nuts.....although they have dome more outreach to Democrats, maybe they're starting to wake up.....
They endorsed some politicians with very, very extreme views on things as a womans right to choose, relationship between church and state, and many other things that were very much contrary to my own beliefs.
Also, I wonder if Mr. LaPierre has noticed food prices skyrocketing, deregulated banks having a lending frenzy, loaning to folks who possibly cannot pay back wht they borrow, levying fees on accounts under a certain balance (proving that there really *is* money to be made off of poorer people) "Vote for Candidate XYZ cause (S)he is pro-gun".....but anti just about everything else......
Mr. LaPierre needs to remove the blinders and see the world around him (not to mention that I think they want a monopoly on defense of the Second Amendment)
"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
- Thomas Jefferson, quoting criminologist Cesare Beccaria
I was an NRA member for many years—until the pathological pinheads took over. I still feel my original astonishment at the NRA's veering into "Moses" Heston's paranoid, distorted view of reality and reason. It made me auto-allergic to the current regime of wannabe devil-in-drag pseudo Christian fascists that have America . . . and almost everything she comes in contact with, devolving and dying—hated worldwide in the bargain. I know that there are reasoning people out there . . . Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, Socialists—whatall their labels. Why are they/we reduced to stammering impotence? Let's get to work, together, before Sarah moves south and privatizes small game for the Cheneyites.
ASAH sounds good to me. Get up some sew-on patches and make them available to members and supporters and watch awareness spread and support and effectiveness GROW like a Giant Jimson weed.
The gun shop and range I frequent are convinced Obama will take away all our guns. Do you have any literature that I could share with them? They were sucked in by the NRA propaganda.
I don't believe this. Obama cannot be trusted around any of our rights. How could you make this mistake. It is good for one thing though. I work for a firearms store in NJ, and can say that obama getting elected has stirred more buisness then i have ever seen. Everybody is getting their guns before they are banned!
Many of us use AR15 style rifles for varmint hunting, target shooting and competitions. We also use AK-103s (Semi-auto version of AK-47) for deer hunting and 3-gun shoots. I have 15-round magazines for my 9mm handgun I use for personal protection in my home.
What is the AHSA's stance on Obama's proposed reinstatement of the assault weapons band?
What is ASHA's stance on high capacity magazines (10-30 rounds)?
Can you be specific and respond to this comment openly and address this on your web site?
Daniel in Ohio
Three cheers for a wonderful victory for ALL gun-owning Americans on November 4th! The NRA's extreme right-wing agenda has failed gun-owners, conservationists, hunters, and, really, all Americans. I look forward to a new dawn in American politics and conservation where wilderness preservation and resource extraction are not pitted against one another as polar opposites, but where they both work towards keeping lands free from development.
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