- McCain Gussies Up to the NRA, and the NRA Gussies Back

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McCain Gussies Up to the NRA, and the NRA Gussies Back

Written by Ann Shibler

Wednesday, 21 May 2008 15:49

One expects presidential candidates to cozy up to anyone and everything in the quest for prized endorsements and votes. So it was no surprise that John McCain showed up at the NRA’s annual convention in mid-May. Also by this time it should be no surprise to anyone that his statements were muddied, his usual gun-control position flip-flopped, and his apparent understanding of the Second Amendment and knowledge of his past voting record appallingly lacking – or deliberately deceitful.

Before arriving at the convention, he told reporters that he is proud of his “advocacy for Second Amendment rights.” But on at least three occasions he voted for, and still advocates, the outlawing of the private sale of firearms at gun shows without restrictions and checks – and that’s just the tip of the dirty iceberg. For his repeatedly anti-gun positions the NRA labeled him “one of the premier flag carriers for the enemies of the Second Amendment,” in 2001.

His reception at the NRA convention was nonetheless warm, and his speech nauseating to those in the know. Attacking Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, he said, “They claim to support hunters and gun owners. But just because they don’t talk about gun control doesn’t mean they won’t support gun control.” (This is surely a case of the pot calling the kettle black.)

McCain said he opposes reviving the assault weapons ban and called it “an encroachment on the Second Amendment. He said, “People use them for target practice, they use them for sport, they use them for recreation and I think it falls under the mantra, I think it falls under the Second Amendment protections.” (Good grief! What a statement, and by a congressman and presidential candidate, too.) He went on to say, “I support Second Amendment rights as articulated by our founding fathers,” with the qualification — there’s always a qualification, isn’t there? — of the individual right to keep and bear arms being taken away if someone has proven themselves unfit for gun ownership.

Well, there’s a hole in the side of the barn big enough to drive a tractor-trailer through!

Gun Owners of America, the pro-Second Amendment organization that tracks congressional gun votes gave McCain an “F” grade for his anti-gun stance. For the 106th Congress alone, 15 votes relating to the right to keep and bear arms were tracked; McCain voted pro-gun only four times. That’s a pro-Second Amendment record of 27 percent in just that one year.

McCain voted for legislation requiring trigger locks – and he even made television ads promoting them. He voted to ban high caliber rifle ammunition. He voted for the campaign finance reform that would have muzzled organizations that communicate the actions of incumbent politicians to their members, and would have made it illegal for such groups to criticize the anti-gun actions of legislators prior to an election. He voted for pawnshop and repair shop transactions to have the same registration and background check requirements as purchases from dealers. He voted for federal regulation of the transfer of firearms over the Internet. He voted for a young adult gun ban that would have resulted in parents being severely punished for allowing youngsters to even touch an “assault weapon” which was left specifically undefined. And he voted on these various laws and amendments more than once, some several times.

Are these the actions of someone who honors the intent of our Founding Fathers’ carefully crafted Second Amendment? No, they are the actions of someone who wants to severely limit and heavily regulate the right to keep and bear arms – your right to keep and bear arms.

So, it’s even more sickening to hear him say to the NRA conventioneers, “For more than two decades, I’ve opposed efforts to ban guns, ban ammunition, ban magazines and dismiss gun owners as some kind of fringe group unwelcome in modern America.” Where I come from that kind of statement is called a big, fat, lie. In campaign parlance it’s known as rhetoric. Apparently, judging from their response, to the NRA crowd it’s music to their ears.

Executive vice-president of the NRA Wayne LaPierre, although critical of McCain’s support for the previously mentioned campaign-finance law and background checks at gun shows, said McCain has sided with the NRA on other gun issues. “There are vast areas of agreement where Senator McCain has been a friend to American gun owners.” If there are, the NRA is headed in the wrong direction and their commitment to protecting Second Amendment rights severely jeopardized.

While the NRA has not openly endorsed McCain, the handwriting is on the wall. LaPierre accused Obama and Clinton of “mouthing pro-Second amendment words and pandering to gun owners” on the campaign trail. “They try to say one thing in the heartland of the country and they vote another way back in Washington,” he said — a PERFECT description of McCain’s comments and style to be sure.

It’s really time for the claimed four million rank and file NRAers to wake the heck up, sift through all the rhetoric, look at the evidence, think for themselves, and not follow the dictates, recommendations, or leanings of their leaders on this one.

Protecting and preserving pure and undefiled the right to keep and bear arms is a sure way to protect our other liberties.

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