In celebration of our partnerships with the National Wildlife Federation Action Fund and Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, American Hunters and Shooters Association is pleased to announce our first National Sportsmen and Women Tele-town Hall.

Supporters are encouraged to call in Tuesday, Oct 20, to learn how to join in nationwide efforts to protect threatened hunting and fish grounds.

DETAILS

• Date: Tuesday, Oct 20, 2009
• Time: 6 PM (EST)
• Toll Free Dial-In #:1-877-269-7289
• Conference Code: 15158#

HOLDING POLLUTERS ACCOUNTABLE:

As you know, your voice--that of America's hunters and anglers--is critical to moving the U.S. Senate to pass legislation that holds polluters accountable for threatening your hunting and fishing grounds.

By dialing into the call, you'll learn how you can be a part of nationwide efforts to safeguard our nation's wild places and build America's clean energy economy.

With climate and clean energy legislation recently introduced in the Senate, the coming weeks will be key to elevating the voices of those Americans concerned about the impacts of climate change on our wildlife and natural resources.

So, be sure to mark your calendars and call in!

As a hunter who is proud of the American hunting tradition there is no doubt in my mind that the senior leadership of the National Rifle Association has sold us out and become a front group for the Republican Party. The GOP’s interests come first – and that leaves hunters behind. There’s a reason Grover Norquist and CPAC's David Keene sit on the NRA’s Board – and I think we all know it has nothing to do with hunting or gun rights.

But it's not enough to say this here on DailyKos or in the blind to my buddies while waiting for the ducks to come. That's why I started the American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA) and that's why we stand up for gun owners who reject the extremism of the NRA leadership.

We all know the NRA has no qualms about attacking gun owners who don’t agree with their "soldier of fortune" philosophy. Remember Jim Zumbo, the dean of outdoor writers whose 30 year career was destroyed by NRA because he had the audacity to write that AK-47s were not a good choice for deer hunting. Or Smith & Wesson, when they agreed with the Clinton administration that a free gun lock with a new gun is a good idea. Now the NRA wants to label AHSA as the "enemy in camouflage". The problem is most rational thinking sportsmen are beginning to understand that it’s really the NRA who is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of America’s 40 million hunters.

In the summer and fall of 2006 there was an emerging a hot button issue about public lands. The Bush Administration was proposing the sale of millions of acres of federal forest land, land that America’s hunters have had easy access to for decades. Predictably, the NRA was silent on the issue because they did not want offend their friends George Bush and Dick Cheney.

A large tract of land that would have been up for sale under the Bush proposal was a portion of the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri. The incumbent Republican Senator, Jim Talent, who was in a tough race to hold on to his Senate seat initially supported the NRA-backed Bush plan to sell off the Mark Twain National Forest. Not surprisingly, that didn’t sit well with rural hunter s and shooters. Nor did it sit well with Talent’s opponent, Claire McCaskill, who had hunted the Mark Twain National Forest as a young girl with her father.

AHSA decided it was time to take on "goliath" and we went directly to Missouri’s hunters to expose NRA’s betrayal. We unleashed an award winning direct mail campaign that caught NRA operatives off guard, we endorsed McCaskill and we ran some strategic radio ads in rural Missouri to insure hunters knew what NRA was doing to their hunting heritage in the "show me’ state.

The NRA lobbyists don’t like to admit defeat. But in 2006, in Missouri, they had to. In a post-election analysis that appeared in NRA’s flagship political magazine First Freedom and on the website, NRA’s top lobbyist, Chris Cox described AHSA’s work in Missouri:

That AHSA slogan is probably laughable to the NRA leaders like Cox because they long ago sacrificed the hunting tradition for the DC power base. I will fight to protect the lands we love, but NRA leaders like Cox and LaPierre won’t. They just want to protect their place in the conservative Republican power structure.

It’s not in the nature of the NRA senior execs to acknowledge a loss. So when they do, it’s a big deal. That’s why it was significant when Chris Cox acknowledged AHSA’s role in Talent’s defeat:

That’s right. And we have our eye on several swing states this year.

Sure the NRA consultants will attack us. That’s what they do. The NRA leadership had to react because they know AHSA poses a real threat to the NRA power base. The NRA’s leaders have lost their connection to America’s hunters and shooters who care about their communities and their environment.

None of this should come as a surprise to progressive who love to hunt and shoot. Hunters are extremely concerned about access to public lands. According to a 2003 Field & Stream National Hunting Survey, 85% of hunters think that their state should use public funds to acquire more land for public hunting. Public access and public lands matter.

Our research shows that there are millions of gun owners who share our progressive values. They need to know there is an alternative voice to the NRA. A voice that shares their concerns and puts their interests first.

There is no reason why progressives should lose the hunter and shooter vote to the right-wing NRA supported candidates. As a gun owner, hunter and conservationist I ask you who is the real "enemy in camouflage"?

It’s a question I get all the time: What happened to the National Rifle Association?

It’s a question that hunters ask all the time. First, there’s an important distinction. The problem is with the NRA's leadership, not their members. As friends of mine like to say, the NRA has a "Field and Stream" membership, but a "Soldier of Fortune" leadership.

Over the past several years, the leadership’s hard core, confrontational approach to policy has undermined our hunting heritage. I firmly believe the declining number of hunters is directly related to the unpopularity of the NRA. That’s unfortunate – and if hunting is going to be preserved in the U.S., it has to change.

The NRA used to care about hunters – and, just as importantly, about the lands on which we hunt. Now, the NRA leadership has adopted a conservative, right wing orthodoxy, that ignores the true interests of American hunters and shooters. As hunters, we care about our guns and are deeply committed to the Second Amendment, there is no question about that. But hunting is about more than guns, it's about our environment, public access, climate change and safe communities.

The "Soldier of Fortune" NRA leaders have become tools of conservative politicians who care more about raising money and fostering the right-wing agenda than hunting and shooting. Does anyone honestly think that NRA Board Member Grover Norquist cares about the needs of hunters or about public lands and public access? Hardly.

Over the years, I’ve asked – and was often asked -- who speaks for the moderate and progressive gun owners? No one has til now.

I’ve had enough. That’s why I started the American Hunters and Shooters Association. I want to take back the voice of hunters and shooters. We believe in the right of every law-abiding American to own firearms, however, unlike those who run the NRA, we believe all Americans have a civic responsibility to our communities. We also support law enforcement and keeping our families and neighborhoods safe. Most hunters gladly accept that responsibility. Of course, that’s heresy to the NRA honchos. Just think of it: a conservation, gun rights organization that is committed to keeping your communities safe. We think this is an approach that makes us all proud again.

The good news is we're making some headway. In a recent column in New West, outdoor journalist Wild Bill Schneider made his "Predictions for 2008". One of his top ten forecasts for the year was:

I couldn’t have said it better myself. And, with your help, the American Hunters and Shooters Association will reclaim our proud American hunting heritage.

This is my fourth diary on Daily Kos. A big thanks to all who have made me feel very comfortable in the community. When I told people I, as a gun owner, was going to start a diary on a progressive blog, they were skeptical. But I knew from reading this blog that there were like-minded readers who didn’t take knee-jerk reactions to guns – on either side of the spectrum.

Since I founded the American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA), I’ve been asked repeatedly why I wanted to start a group that would compete with the National Rifle Association. A lot has to do with the NRA leaders, with their extreme positions, claiming to represent all gun owners. They feel that everyone should have unfettered access to guns -- which goes against the majority of all gun owners. But no one from the gun rights community has been willing to take them on. As a lifelong hunter and as someone who cares deeply about the environment, I’ve long felt that the NRA leadership has chosen the power of lobbying and politics over the needs of the hunting and shooting community.

I have a profound and deep respect for the Second Amendment. And, as I wrote last week, AHSA is filing an amicus brief based on our belief that the Second Amendment provides an individual right to keep and bear arms. This stems from the challenge to the DC gun ban – the first Second Amendment case to reach the Supreme Court in almost 70 years.

I’ll put my hunting credentials up against those of NRA Executive VP Wayne LaPierre any day. I got my first gun (a .22 rifle) at age 10 and my first shotgun at 11. I still have both of them today. In addition to owning a 300-acre hunting preserve on Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, I’ve hunted throughout the United States.

Now, I am on a quest to improve policies and programs for gun owners, especially of those of us who hunt and shoot and love the outdoors. I’ve had a long involvement with firearm policies. I was appointed by the Secretary of Army to assist in the transition of The Civilian Marksmanship Program to civilian control through a new private non-profit corporation. During the 90s, I served on Maryland Governor Parris Glendening’s committee on gun violence. I do think gun owners can have an important role in reducing gun violence. However, there are limits. I didn’t win any fans from the gun control advocates on that panel when I voted against their handgun licensing plan.

My wife doesn’t hunt. She doesn’t even like guns. In fact, she’s served on the board of various gun control groups, which has resulted in interesting conversations in our home. My two daughters do hunt and I know there are many female hunters and shooters. However, over the years, I’ve also learned that my family’s marital division on guns is not uncommon.

But again, I think that’s due to the negative image of guns that has been generated over the past several decades. The intransigence of the NRA leadership to engage in a discussion about making communities safer has had a detrimental effect on the hunting and shooting tradition.

It’s time to begin rebuilding respect for our hunting and shooting heritage, so I started AHSA. Over the last thirty years, our reputation has been tarnished by gun rights extremists. That negativity has to end so that our traditions don’t end. And that’s what I’ll be working on.

Thanks again for reading the posts.