USAToday reported that Dan Cooper, founder and owner of Cooper Firearms, lost his job.  The reason: He's voting for Obama:

Montana gunsmith Dan Cooper has been ousted as chief executive of the rifle company that bears his name after pressure from gun owners who are angry that he is supporting Democrat Barack Obama.  

Today, on behalf of the American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA), I condemned the actions by the NRA and its cronies forcing Dan Cooper out.

The gun lobby's attempt to destroy a good man and small business owner, a loyal member of the gun fraternity, again reveals the desperate Joe McCarthy-like politics of fear that the NRA leadership and others put first.  They are trying to scare America's hunters and shooters into voting against Barack Obama -- but we have one thing to say: vote hope and not fear.

I have been campaigning in battleground states, including Ohio, Minnesota, Florida and Colorado for Barack Obama this fall.  I know first-hand that gun owners are voting for Obama. They know their gun rights are secure.  And they want a president who won't take their guns AND will focus on the economy and their jobs.  It's beyond appalling that hard-core gun activists would destroy the economic livelihood of a guy like Dan Cooper.  John McCain should be ashamed that his supporters have harmed a small business owner for political reasons.  That should never happen in the America.

Last year we witnessed what happened to prominent outdoor writer and commentator Jim Zumbo when he dared take a position contrary to NRA policy.  Now they are trying to do the same to Dan Cooper.

This is wrong, and rank and file gun owners who have no political ax to grind need to stand up, reject such underhanded tactics and have their voices heard. That's why AHSA was formed, to end this partisan bullying and to restore pride to the shooting sports.   This action against Cooper reinforces my commitment to making change happen by electing Obama - and by building an organization for hunters and shooters who are tired of extremism.

I was in Florida over the weekend campaigning for Obama. I'm impressed with the way the Obama campaign will not cede any vote to McCain. This is the first time any Democratic presidential campaign has so aggressively fought for gun owners. I think it's working - and it's throwing the GOP-controlled NRA for a loop.

I like this headline from the Daytona Beach News-Journal: "Obama, McCain lining up gun groups"

Obama is actually lining up gun voters, which is most important. Wherever I go, I'm finding gun owners are open to Obama. This year, we're not being duped by the NRA's aggressively pro-GOP spin. That loyalty to the Republicans hasn't gotten gun owners much. Our environment is in danger and the economy in crisis. The NRA's leaders don't look beyond their own narrow self-interests.

I'm also very glad to see more Democratic leaders speaking out on this issue. Last week, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland delivered the message in Southern Ohio:

"There is probably no governor, I would say, in the United States of America, who has a stronger, better record in the support of the Second Amendment than does Governor Ted Strickland and I'm proud of that," Strickland told a rally in Chillicothe as he warmed up the crowd ahead of a speech by Obama.

Strickland, whose battleground state is a focus of intensive campaigning by Obama and Republican John McCain, said he spoke directly to Obama about the right to bear arms in the Second Amendment.

"If you are a sportsman, if you are a gun owner, if you are someone that honors and respects the Second Amendment, you have nothing to fear from Barack Obama," the Democratic governor said at a rally in the rural southern part of his state.

Governor Strickland is absolutely right. We're making progress -- Democrats are talking to gun owners and gun owners are listening.  I've been campaigning for Obama myself in Southern Ohio so I know Strickland's words carry weight with gun owners.  When these gun owners understand their guns are safe, they are willing to hear what Obama has to say about the economy.

It's also good to see the NRA's leadership being called out on their hypocrisy. Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times used the NRA's own words to undermine the case the group is trying to make for McCain:

The NRA on Thursday officially endorsed John McCain, though that was merely a formality given that it had already spent $2.3 million on attack ads targeting Obama. This puts the organization in the odd position of throwing its considerable political clout behind a Republican candidate whom its official journal once called "one of the premier flag carriers for enemies of the 2nd Amendment," and against a Democrat who never tires of telling voters that he believes in the right to bear arms. So what gives? Apparently, the NRA thinks that McCain's past legislative sins against gun ownership are forgivable, while Obama's are not.

The gun lobby was furious seven years ago when the McCain-Feingold bill threatened to limit the ability of advocacy groups like the NRA to sponsor political ads; McCain also prominently backed a bill that would have required dealers at gun shows to run background checks on buyers, a smart strategy for keeping guns out of the hands of criminals that horrifies the NRA. McCain's choice of lifetime NRA member Sarah Palin as vice president, on the other hand, seems to have erased any doubts about his loyalty to the Colt-hugging crew.

There was never any doubt that the NRA would endorse their one-time enemy, John McCain. The current leaders of the NRA put their own partisan politics first. This year, however, the NRA isn't the only game in town. Gun owners are hearing from both sides. And, this year, that is making a major difference. Along those lines, I'll be back on the campaign trail this week heading to Minnesota and Michigan.

I'm just back from doing eight campaign stops in Ohiofor Obama over the past couple days.  I want to get out my thoughts on the decision by the NRA to officially endorse John McCain.  They're playing pure partisan politics with this decision.  Based on the NRA's own standards, McCain doesn't deserve the endorsement.

But, today, the National Rifle Association demonstrated once again that it is a partisan political entity, not a organization committed to the best interests of gun owners.

In 2001, the NRA’s magazine, America’s First Freedom (no link), said that John McCain was "one of the premier flag carriers for the enemies of the Second Amendment."  That came after McCain introduced federal legislation on gun show background checks, which came after McCain’s appearances in television ads support referenda in Colorado and Oregon to require backgrounds checks at gun shows.  

The ad from Colorado is here.   McCain knew that the NRA was fighting these measures and rubbed his support right in the faces of the NRA leadership.

There's a pattern of the NRA endorsing Republicans even when those Republicans don't support the NRA's agenda.  In 2004 the NRA endorsed George Bush despite his long-standing support for renewal of the federal assault weapons ban., a measure also vehemently opposed by the NRA.  In fact, John McCain voted for the renewal of the assault weapons ban in 2004, when he supported S. 1805, which included an amendment on assault weapons.

This history is important.  It’s hard to imagine any Democrat getting a similar pass from the NRA.  In fact, the NRA has been going over Barack Obama’s state senate record with a microscope to find any bad vote.  Meanwhile, Obama has repeatedly expressed support for the Second Amendment and has even supported a key NRA bill, the Vitter amendment, in the U.S. Senate.

But, the NRA’s long memory on Obama is contradicted by its lack of honest scrutiny of John McCain and his record.  The GOP nominee mocked the NRA to its face by appearing in those t.v. ads in 2000 and serving as the lead sponsor for gun show legislation.  The NRA is holding Obama accountable for votes taken 10 years ago, but giving McCain a pass for his actions within the past 8 years.

But, the leaders of the NRA always put their own political interests first.  They’re willing to spend the millions of dollars of their members’ money to fight Obama when McCain has led the charge against the organization.  The NRA is spending those millions to deceive its members and other gun owners.  Three independent sources-- FactCheck.org, CNNand the Washington Post, have found the NRA’s ads misleading and false.

And, the truth is that NRA has been selling out hunters on conservation interests for years.  The organization that I head, the American Hunters and Shooters Association, put out a comprehensive report showing that the NRA has support Members of Congress with the worst conservation records (Read the report at: www.realhuntersrealconservation.org) Our report showed that the NRA has stood with George Bush, John McCain, and the corporate lobbyists instead of standing up for hunters and shooters' interest in protecting our forests and public lands.

Today’s action by the NRA wasn’t unexpected.  It just confirms that Wayne LaPierre has made that once great institution nothing but a pawn of the right wing conservative politicians.  

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.