Last week, I asked who is the real enemy in camouflage? My answer was simple. It’s the leadership of the National Rifle Association. That post generated a great discussion here on DailyKos – and resulted in my first diary rescue, which I greatly appreciate.

The NRA’s political operation obviously monitors what progressive gun owners are discussing on Kos because, in predictable fashion, Wayne LaPierre and his right wing attack dogs have wasted no time in trying to hit back at the American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA) and me. But, once again, their laughable attack only proves that AHSA’s fearless defense of the true interests of Missouri sportsmen -- protecting our public land from Jim Talent and the Bush Administration’s attempt to sell off the Mark Twain National Forest -- was a stunning defeat for NRA in Missouri.

And remember, NRA rarely acknowledges defeat. That’s why they lead off their attack on AHSA with references to old wins in the 1994 congressional elections and Bush’s win in 2000 despite his having lost the popular vote. However, the NRA attack dogs fail to mention that Democrats did take back the Senate in 2000 by defeating pro-NRA candidates in Washington, Missouri, Michigan, Delaware and Florida.

NRA likes it reputation as the big 800lb political gorilla, yet the long list of NRA supported congressional incumbents who bit the dust in 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2004 clearly set the stage for the 2006 Democratic come back. NRA has reason to be concerned about holding on to power.

Of course, what the NRA calls "AHSA’s lies" is what was actually AHSA exposing the NRA’s complete failure to stand up for America’s hunting and shooting heritage. AHSA is not afraid to support policy makers who believe in conservation, access to public lands and doing something about global warming- American values held dear by a majority of hunters and shooters.

I gladly stand by AHSA record and what I wrote. Unlike the NRA attack, my diary is not an unsigned, misguided screed. I firmly believe the current leadership of the NRA has become a real enemy of mainstream hunters and shooters. The group has lost touch with its roots – and instead of worrying about its members, it is far more concerned about its own finances worries and conservative political connections.

You only have to read "Ricochet: Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist" by former NRA Lobbyist Richard Feldman to know how corrupted the NRA has become under its current elitist leadership. Those leaders, led by LaPierre, are obsessed with raising money to fund their high priced perks and to feed the vast complex of consultants that feed at the trough and keep them in power. It’s truly appalling – and it’s time for a change.

It’s almost amusing that the NRA is so afraid of AHSA. But, there’s good reason. They see the same research we see -- most gun owners share the AHSA viewpoint, not theirs. The NRA has been the only game in town but, given the extreme positions taken by LaPierre and his right wing cronies, their support is actually not very deep. Claire McCaskill proved that when Missouri gun owners rejected the NRA’s extremism. Most of us want safe communities as well as a healthy environment. Millions of gun owners reject the NRA’s support for gun rights for terrorists and siding with corporate logging interests over hunters.

What the NRA says about me doesn’t matter. I don’t have to prove my pro-gun credentials. If Wayne LaPierre wants to put his money where his mouth is, let’s meet in the duck blind and prove once and for who is hiding behind the camouflage. Anyone who has hunted with me knows my commitment to the Second Amendment. But they also know my love and commitment to the lands on which we hunt and the civic responsibility that goes along with our gun rights. The days of the NRA defining what it means to be a pro-gun American are over.

What the NRA leadership fails to realize is that AHSA will not bullied. Won’t happen. We care too deeply about our country and our hunting heritage. Support for AHSA by rank and file hunters and shooters is growing steadily. And, if you agree, join AHSA.

Wayne LaPierre needs to realize that AHSA will continue speaking out for interests of progressive hunters and shooters. We are going to look for new ways to talk about the gun issue where the focus is on crime prevention rather than gun bans. We will continue to work for elected officials who value the environment while respecting our hunting and firearms heritage. And, I’m confident, much to Wayne LaPierre’s chagrin, that progressive hunters and shooters realize the winds of political change that are sweeping our country proves most forward thinking gun owners agree with me.

The NRA is right to be afraid of AHSA. We’ve only just begun.

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"?

"Where are the ducks?" That’s the question hunters across the country have been asking for the last couple years. I’ve been asking it myself. And, I can tell you, it’s disconcerting.

Something is changing in the environment – keeping migratory birds up north longer. For me, it’s not a theory, it’s a reality. I see it every year at my farm in Maryland.

An article in last Tuesday’s New York Times spotlights the issue that is affecting hunters across the country -- and lays out the threat:

That is a very disturbing prospect for the hunting community, which brings me to another question like-minded hunters who care about the environment are asking: Who is watching out for our concerns? There really was no place for hunters like me, who love the outdoors, respect their firearms and have progressive values.

That’s why I helped start the American Hunters & Shooters Association(AHSA). It is our belief that Americans who love the outdoors and the shooting sports deserve an organization that represents their views, avoids angry political rhetoric and delivers well thought out, rational programs and policy proposals.

Unfortunately, the leaders of the National Rifle Association (NRA) value their political ties and the perks of their jobs more than the hunting heritage. You’d like to think the NRA, an organization founded with a commitment to conservation, would use its supposed power to protect hunters and hunting lands. They don’t -- as we witnessed in the debacle over the Bush administration’s decision to allow road construction and logging on national forest lands.

With right wing leaders like Grover Norquist on the NRA Board, you know their agenda isn’t about a better environment and open space. The group’s leaders put partisan politics and their own self-interest first. That is well-documented in a recently published book, , by former NRA lobbyist Richard Feldman. Earlier this week, Meteor Blades detailed the pro-industry policies of the Bush-Cheney administration that have seriously degraded our public lands.

At AHSA, we believe responsible and ethical actions are the duty of all hunters and shooters who use the outdoors. That also includes support for sound environmental policies that preserve the outdoors and support for candidates who share those values.

We know concern about global warming is widely shared by hunters based on the findings of the 2006 National Wildlife Federation Nationwide Opinion Survey of Hunters and Anglers:

Obviously many hunters, myself included, are experiencing direct effect of those changes as, each hunting season, we’re faced with the question of "Where are the ducks?" What many of us are seeing appear to be the real world impacts of global warming.

If you are one of the many progressive Americans who share both my love of hunting and shooting and a deep commitment to progressive values like a clean earth, check out AHSA. To preserve our traditions, hunters can be – and must be -- stewards of the earth.