Another View Of The NRA Convention

I had the opportunity to spend the afternoon today with 3000 of my fellow bitter brothers and sisters at the NRA Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum. We cling to guns and God, but today it was mostly guns. We weren't allowed to pack our guns into the auditorium, but that was OK. Heard speeches from several NRA officers, Karl Rove, Ollie North, Mike Huckabee, Kay Bailey Hutchison, John Bolton, Mitt Romney, Mitch McConnell, and John McCain. Pretty amazing group to have in one place!

Probably the two most inspirational speeches were from two warriors, Marcus Luttrell, Navy SEAL, and Sgt. Greg Stube, U.S. Special Forces. Both had survived brutal fighting and grave injuries in Afghanistan and Iraq, respectively. These two men have more courage, conviction and honor in their little fingers than a ballroom full of Chardonnay sipping Obama supporters.

I listened to speeches for five straight hours and could have easily listened for five more. The right for law abiding citizens to bear arms is so fundamental that it is an abomination (Obomanation?) that it is even an issue in this country. Thank God (there I go, clinging again) for the NRA and its diligence and fortitude in protecting this right. Like the late, great Charlton Heston said: "You can have my gun when you pry my cold, dead fingers from it!"

Why Obama Got An "F" From The NRA

Senator John McCain drew a big laugh at the National Rifle Association's national convention today when he quoted Barack Obama trying to talk like a hunter by making reference to using a "six shooter" to kill fowl. McCain commented, "Someone should tell Senator Obama that ducks are usually killed with shotguns."

Obama's hunt-speak was one more instance of Obama trying to obfuscate a voting record that reveals his contempt for the second amendment's right to bear arms. It's a voting record that prompted the NRA to rate Obama "F" three times.

Obama's efforts to reinvent his record on gun rights reflects a political reality: three fourths of all Americans believe that individuals have a right to bear arms. Moreover, nine out of ten NRA members vote.

Once he set his sights on the Oval Office, Obama professed a new-found affection for anything with a sight. During the Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas last January, for example, Obama observed, "You've got the tradition of lawful gun ownership, that all of us saw, as we travel around rural parts of the country. And it is very important for many Americans to be able to hunt, fish, take their kids out, teach them how to shoot."

Before he decided to run for president, in contrast, Obama did not disguise his disdain for guns and those who own them. Take his response to a 1996 candidate survey. Though he denied it and tried to blame a staffer, Obama -- in his own handwriting -- answered "yes" to a question that asked, "Do you support state legislation to ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns?"

Obama's recent infatuation with guns would no doubt shock those who knew him early in his career, like the Illinois State Rifle Associaton (ISRA). Obama served as director of the Joyce Foundation, which is linked to the Soros Open Society Institute. According to ISRA, The Joyce Foundation has given more than $ 15 million to fund such anti-gun organizations as the Violence Policy Center and the Council Against Handgun Violence.

John Lott, Jr. recently told FoxNews that he recalls Obama stating,: "I don't believe that people should be able to own guns." According to Lot, "I knew Obama during the mid-1990s, and his answers to IVI's [candidate survey] question on guns fit well with the Obama that I knew. Indeed, the first time I introduced myself to him he said 'Oh, you are the gun guy.' I responded 'Yes, I guess so.' He simply responded that "'I don't believe that people should be able to own guns.'" (Emphasis added.)

Obama voted -- four times -- against legislation to protect homeowners from being prosecuted for using a gun when their house is being broken into, according to ISRA. That bill responded to a case involving a Chicago man who was prosecuted for shooting a burglar who had broken into his home, twice.

While running for the U.S Senate in 2004, Obama called for federal legislation to pre-empt state statutes that allow concealed weapons, according to the Chicago Tribune. In one fell swoop, Obama showed that he has no more respect for the rights of states in the federal system than he does for the second amendment.

Likewise, as a state senator, Obama voted against a law to allow citizens to carry a concealed weapon -- even in situations where the citizen had obtained a protective order. Obama explained, "Concealed-carry laws would only increase the problem of handgun violence and ultimately make the streets less safe everywhere." That, of course, is cold comfort to a woman trying to defend herself from the subject of a protective order.

Just last month, Obama reiterated his view on concealed weapons. "I'm not in favor of concealed weapons . . . I think that creates a potential atmosphere where more innocent people could (get shot during) altercations," he told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Illinois hunters became irate in 2003 over a proposed law, which Obama supported, that would have banned privately held shotguns, target rifles and black powder guns. According to ISRA, the law would have allowed law enforcement officials to forcibly enter private homes to seize the guns. It seems that Obama has no more use for the fourth amendment's prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures than he has for the second amendment.

Obama's record in the U.S. Senate is just as bad. He twice voted to hold manufacturers, distributors and importers of guns and ammunition liable for the acts of criminals. That's worse than holding McDonald's liable for childhood obesity: it's like holding the farmers of the potatoes that went into the McDonald's french fries liable, as well.

Obama maintains that the D.C. gun ban (now before the Supreme Court) is constitutional -- though that ban prohibits people from keeping guns even in their own homes. Obama's campaign explained to the Chicago Tribune that he "believes that we can recognize and respect the rights of law-abiding gun owners and the right of local communities to enact common sense laws to combat violence and save lives."

The only lives saved by the D.C. gun ban are the lives of criminals. The 30 year history of the D.C. gun ban shows that it did not reduce crime, a fact Obama ignores.

Consequently, Obama did not join a bipartisan majority of 55 U.S. Senators who signed an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court. The brief asked the Court to hold the D.C. gun ban unconstitutional and reaffirm that the second amendment guarantees an individual the right to bear arms. McCain signed the brief. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell signed it, too. Obama did not (nor did Hillary Clinton). But so great is his ambition, and his fear of angering voters, that Obama also failed to sign the brief for the other side.

The irony is that if the Supreme Court rules the way Obama wants, and upholds the D.C. gun ban, Obama will lose the election. The next president will nominate at least one justice to the Supreme Court. The three-fourths of Americans who believe that the second amendment means what it says will not stand by and watch that amendment gutted by activist justices who don't like guns.

The issue of the right to bear arms is the most striking example of the difference between Obama and McCain. Obama told Lott, "'I don't believe that people should be able to own guns.'" And he backed up that statement with vote after vote. Until recently.

McCain, in contrast, told the NRA:

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. The Second Amendment isn't some archaic custom that matters only to rural Americans, who find solace in firearms out of frustration with their economic circumstances. The Second Amendment is unique in the world. It guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms. To argue anything else is to reject the clear meaning of our Founding Fathers.

McCain evoked a standing ovation, but unlike Obama's appearance in Louisville last week, no one fainted during McCain's speech. And therein lies another difference between the two men: whereas Obama projects the aura of a rock star, McCain is unapologetically presidential.

McCain Addresses The NRA

Senator John McCain drew a sharp distinction between his record of support of second amendment rights and that of Barack Obama -- who received an "F" rating from the National Rifle Association.

McCain addressed the NRA's 137th national convention, held at the Exposition Center in Louisville, where he framed the election as about whether the nation's best days are behind us. "I reject the idea of an America that is in decline."

McCain noted that his commitment to "all Americans and all constitutional rights" -- including the right to bear arms -- is longstanding.

When I first ran for Congress in 1982, I was proud to have the support of gun owners. 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. The Second Amendment isn't some archaic custom that matters only to rural Americans, who find solace in firearms out of frustration with their economic circumstances. The Second Amendment is unique in the world. It guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms. To argue anything else is to reject the clear meaning of our Founding Fathers.

The voting records 0f Obama and Hillary Clinton, in contrast, belie their professed affection for the second amendment:

Senators Obama and Clinton claim they support our hunting heritage, but they voted to allow lawsuits that would force American gunmakers out of business and to ban ammunition commonly used for hunting. Their votes reveal their real views -- far more than their occasional statements of theoretical support for the Second Amendment heard on the campaign trail.

McCain acknowledged that he and the NRA have not always seen eye to eye on every issue relating to the right to bear arms. For example, McCain said that although he does not want to see gun shows regulated out of existence,

I believe an accurate, fair and instant background check at guns shows is a reasonable requirement.

This election, McCain asserted, offers gun owners a clear choice that will have consequences:

Let's be clear. If either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama is elected President, the rights of law-abiding gun owners will be at risk, my friends, and have no doubt about it. They have both voted as Senators to ban guns or ban ammunition or to allow gun makers to be sued out of existence.

Addressing the U.S. Supreme Court's upcoming opinion in the D.C gun ban case (Heller), McCain criticized Obama, who took the position that the District of Columbia can prevent a law-abiding citizen from having a gun to defend himself even in his own home.

Senator Obama hopes he can get away with having it both ways. He says he believes that the Second Amendment confers an individual right to bear arms. But when he had a chance to weigh in on the most important Second Amendment case before the U.S. Supreme Court in decades, District of Columbia v. Heller, Senator Obama dodged the question by claiming, "I don't like taking a stand on pending cases." He refused to sign the amicus brief signed by a bipartisan group of 55 Senators arguing that the Supreme Court should overturn the DC gun ban in the Heller case. When he was running for the State Senate in Illinois, his campaign filled out a questionnaire asking whether he supported legislation to ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns with simple, "Yes."

The Heller case underscores the importance of judicial selection, McCain emphasized; he promised to nominate judges who will interpret the law -- or the Constitution -- as written, rather than making it up "by fiat" to suit their personal preference.

In addition to different positions on the second amendment and judicial nominations, McCain drew other distinctions between his record and Obama's.

There are many other differences between my views and Senator Obama's. I favor lower taxes, less government spending, and less federal bureaucracy. Senator Obama has clearly stated his preference for raising the tax burden on Americans, increasing government spending and giving the government more authority over the lives of American families and businesses. We have differences on health care. I prefer to give American families more control over their health care decisions. Senator Obama would prefer the government exercise greater control. Senator Obama would meet unconditionally with some of the world's worst dictators and state sponsors of terrorists. I would not add to the prestige of those who support violent extremists or seek to destroy our allies.

McCain concluded by addressing the issue of the war in Iraq, stating that he would oppose Obama's promises to pull troops home regardless of the advice of generals on the ground:

A reckless and premature withdrawal would be a terrible defeat for our security interests and our values. Iran will view it as a victory, and the biggest state supporter of terrorists, a country with nuclear ambitions and a stated desire to destroy the State of Israel, will see its influence in the Middle East grow significantly.

McCain promised that he would never risk the safety of our country for his political ambition, and concluded his speech with a standing ovation accompanied by a brass band.

McConnell Receives NRA Award

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell received the National Rifle Association's Defender of Freedom Award today at the NRA's national convention at Freedom Hall in Louisville.

The award was well-deserved, because few Americans have a greater respect for our Constitution and the plain meaning of its words than McConnell. And that includes all the enumerated powers, including the second amendment's right to bear arms. As McConnell noted, the Framers viewed the right to bear arms as so central to the cause of freedom that they put it at the top of the list -- right after the right of free speech.

Here are excerpts of McConnell's remarks:

On the one side are people like Howard Dean and Barack Obama, those who seem to think the people need the state more than the state needs the people. They are the heirs of a centuries-old line of thinkers who think that the few, the elite, should diagnose and cure the ills of the many. …

Occasionally those opinions slip out, at cocktail parties in San Francisco and New York. Reporters usually refer to these slips as gaffes or blunders. Maybe I’m old fashioned, but it seems to me a better word for it would be honesty. Someone who says that Americans cling to guns and religion because they’re bitter doesn’t say it because he misspoke. He says it because that’s what he really thinks. And here’s what I think: he’s dead wrong.

When I hear that most of the families in this country say grace before meals, I think it’s a tribute to America’s greatness, not a sign of its weakness. And when I hear that about nine out of ten NRA members show up to the polls on Election Day, I don’t think it means that gun owners are bitter. I think it shows that the spirit of freedom is alive among the millions of members of the NRA. …

I voted to put John Roberts and Sam Alito on the Supreme Court because I thought they’d have a deep respect for the words of the Constitution and for what the Framers intended, including a faithful interpretation of the Second Amendment. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama voted against both of them. And Obama went even further. You might recall that as the vote on Judge Alito was approaching, John Kerry tried to phone in a filibuster from the ski slopes in Switzerland. Senator Obama, along with a handful of other far-left liberals, opted to join him. It should be no secret what kind of judges Obama would like to nominate if he were president. And I can guarantee you this: None of them would ever be asked to keynote an NRA convention.

Update: The full text appears in Human Events.

Republican Big Shots Coming To Town

You'd think the Republican National Convention had come early, judging by the slate of speakers expected for next week's National Rifle Association meeting in Louisville. USA Today reports:

The National Rifle Association says Republican presidential candidate John McCain is scheduled to give a speech during a forum at the N.R.A.'s annual meeting next week in Louisville.

N.R.A. spokesman Andrew Arulanandam says the U.S. senator and presumptive GOP presidential nominee will take part in the group's Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum on May 16, the first day of the three-day meeting. The meeting will be followed a few days later by Kentucky's primary election.

Also scheduled to speak at the forum are former GOP presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, former White House political director Karl Rove, [and] Republican U.S. Senate Leader Mitch McConnell . . . .

Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama received no invitation to speak. Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear apparently will be the odd man out, as he looks to be the only Democrat scheduled to give an address.

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