Which John McCain Is Showing Up at the NRA Convention Today?
Today, the National Rifle Association convenes its annual meeting in Louisville. Speaking to the group will be presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. The American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA) ran an ad in the Louisville paper today with an open letter to NRA members who need to get the real story about John McCain. They won't get it from the NRA's leadership. The full ad can be seen here, and here is the text:
When Senator John McCain addresses NRA leaders at their convention today, we all need to ask where does he really stand on the important issue of background checks on all gun transfers at gun shows.Today, McCain will pander to the NRA's leaders. And, the leaders will pander back. We don't expect straight talk. We expect a lovefest. By doing that, McCain continues to show his disrespect for gun owners. And, the NRA leaders continue to put their own personal political agendas ahead of the best interests of McCain if they let him off the hook.
In March of 2004, on the floor of the US Senate, Senator McCain delivered an impassioned plea for legislation to close the so-called "gun show loophole".SENATOR MCCAIN: "Why do we need this amendment? Some might point to tragedies such as Columbine, but as horrific as the massacre at Columbine was, where eleven young people needlessly lost their lives, that is not what drives the need to close the gun-show loophole.
We need this amendment because criminals and terrorists have exploited and are exploiting this very obvious loophole in our gun safety laws... "We need this amendment because, according to the NRA [National Rifle Association], 'hundreds of thousands' of unlicensed firearms sales occur at gun shows each year. We need this amendment because ATF has identified gun shows as the second leading source of firearms recovered from illegal gun trafficking investigations...
"We also need this amendment because my law-abiding constituents who attend gun shows in Arizona should not have to rub shoulders with the scum of the Earth who use this loophole to evade background checks to buy firearms to peddle to God knows who."
Now, McCain argues that no new gun laws are needed.
Has he changed his mind or has he had a "senior moment" and forgotten that he once was an outspoken national leader on this issue?
Hunters and shooters deserve to know where the leader of the "Straight Talk Express" now stands on gun shows.
So today, while Senator McCain panders to Wayne LaPierre and Chris Cox, Kentucky sportsmen need to call McCain's Senate office at 202-224-2235 and ask where the Senator really stands on this important issue.
Ray Schoenke,
President--American Hunters and Shooters Association
This is a newfound relationship between the NRA and McCain.
A couple years ago, McCain was vilified by the NRA in its own publications over the gun show issue:
Anti-gun groups, led by Americans for Gun Safety, have teamed up behind U.S. Sen. John McCain to exploit terrorism in order to advance their gun control agenda. Their first target of opportunity is the traditional American gun show.Also, just a couple years ago, the mere mention of McCain's name elicited boos from the membership. In 2002, Fox reported:
The crown booed the mention of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., lead sponsor of the campaign finance reforms that the NRA is challenging.No surprise. Back in 2000, John McCain attacked the NRA:LaPierre said the group "must grow larger and tougher" to fend off attempts to implement waiting periods on gun purchases at gun shows, protect gun manufacturers from lawsuits and defend First Amendment freedom of speech in the form of campaign advertising.
The NRA is entitled to their advocacy. I don't think they help the Republican Party at all, but I don't think they should in any way play a major role in the Republican Party's policy making.
Which McCain shows up at the NRA convention today? The McCain who the NRA booed and vilified or Wayne LaPierre's new best friend? The McCain who attacked the NRA and did t.v. ads in Colorado and Oregon opposing the NRA on gun shows back in 2000?
It's almost incomprehensible to think that the NRA leadership would abandon its principles to support someone who worked so hard against them. But, that's what is happening today in Louisville. That's why we want NRA members to get the answers from John McCain himself. Clearly, when it comes to McCain, the members can't trust the leaders. There's a lot of hypocrisy on both sides.
We know most gun owners do support background checks according to a survey of gun owners conducted by Field and Stream. That's the position of AHSA. But, it's not the position of the NRA, which purports to represent gun owners. But one thing is clear: real gun owners aren't represented by either McCain or the NRA.
We'll have a lot more to say about how McCain's record affects hunters and shooters over the next weeks and months. Climate change, roadless rules and public access all have to be part of the discussion.
But, to start, a real answer on gun shows would be helpful.
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"But one thing is clear: real gun owners aren't represented by either McCain or the NRA. "
Haha! This is great. Mr Schoenke calling out McCain for is pro-gun stances.
Pot, meet kettle.
“The AHSA board proudly displays pictures of themselves target shooting or afield, confirming their elitist mind-set that it’s okay to ban guns they don’t own. Their political track records follow suit. Board Member Ray Schoenke has supported myriad liberal causes in recent years. He has made political contributions to Al Gore, Barbara Boxer, Bill Clinton, Dianne Feinstein, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry. In 2000, Schoenke donated $5,000 to Handgun Control, Inc. Contributions were also made to HCI by the Ray and Holly Schoenke Foundation, enough to earn him a slot as a major benefactor of the annual HCI fundraising dinner.”
http://www
Well there were no paid AHSA protesters outside the NRA convention this weekend. I guess those alleged 25,000 members haven't been paying their dues. Or else the AHSA has spent all their funds endorsing a candidate whose only pro-gun stance was saying privately owned firearms shouldn't be confiscated in an emergency.
McCain and his handlers no doubt hope independent voters remember the "independent" John McCain, even while he has morphed into a Bush Republican to appeal to the Republican base. The straight talk express is off the road.
Ray has a good point. We shouldn't back a luke warm gun rights supporter like John McCain and should instead support Barrack Obama with his proven record of supporting gun bans, junk lawsuits and hatred of concealed carry laws.
Yeah, that AHSA is definately a pro gun organization.
The real John McCain will show up, the one who flip-flops and lies with ease; the other McCain that the MSM sold America does not exist.
McCain's desire to continue the Bush/Cheney legacy of cowboy style diplomacy is repugnant. McCain's comments: "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" and "I'm going to sit the Sunnis and Shiites down and tell them to quit the bullsh*%" along with a vast array of questionable statements that McCain has made lend credence to the fact that McCain has not articulated an economic policy, national security policy nor foreign policy that that is substantive.
McCain offers America irrelevant sound bites that mirror the Bush/Cheney failed policies, on these matters McCain is simply wrongheaded and his policies are not what America needs.
What has become clear over the past few months is that the portrayal of McCain as the "straight talking maverick" is a contrivance of the MSM and republican spin machine.
McCain's 28 years in Washington have not produced an erudite politician who exhibits the type of judgment that America needs.
What has been revealed is that McCain"s chronological age does not equate to better experience that supersedes the cogent perspectives of Sen. Obama.
Although Obama is younger he's exhibited far superior acumen on what America needs, much more so than McCain. Sen. Obama's finely nuanced judgment on economic, social justice, national security and foreign policy topics is a testament to Obama's wisdom and capability to better serve this nation.
Welcome to the "Full O' Shit" Express
That's not the half of it. McCain chose to appear at this convention knowing that Vietnam draft dodger Ted Nugent also appeared. Nugent boasted in the Detroit Free Press to urinating and defecating in his pants a week before reporting for his draft board physical to avoid serving in the very war that McCain is considered a hero. Way to go McCain we Nam vets really appreciate that kind of stupidity.
Well, there's only two choices: Dumb and Dumber. Everyone has a 50% chance of guessing right.
I don't get the point of this article. The author agrees that most of the American public and even the Hunters and Shooters Association agrees that some background checks are necessary, yet castigates the obviously out-of-step NRA for greeting McCain warmly because he may or may not still support background checks at gun shows.
And I cannot understand the idiocy of those who feel that somehow closing the gun show loophole is tantamount to a destruction of rights. What is the point of having ANY laws preventing gun ownership by people who are felons, or subject to court orders against gun possession, or certified as deranged, if you're going to allow a big opening where there will be no checks. Anyone with a second grade education can figure out the math -- people who can't survive gun checks will go through other channels to get guns illegally. So why not prohibit those channels? It's one of the degrees of illogic that keeps the NRA on the periphery of American life despite its membership numbers.
American Hunters and Shooters Association are not pro-gun. Some of the board members are previous members of other gun control groups. If previous members of an anti-abortion group created a new group with a pro-abortion sounding name, would you believe them to be pro-abortion?
No one is claiming that requiring background checks for transactions by private parties is tantamount to a destruction of gun rights. They are claiming it is another incremental step in that direction, and as with all other gun control laws it will have no impact at reducing crime or criminal access to guns. According to the Bureau of Justice, gun shows account for one percent as a source of guns misused in crimes. Even if background checks were required for these private sales 98% of these transactions would not have been prohibited anyway. Most criminals acquire their guns through straw purchases which are illegal, the black market, and theft.
No amount of laws will stop criminal access of firearms. Just as Prohibition and the War on Drugs has failed, so too has gun control and for similar reasons. Gun control laws do not equal gun eradication, and it never will even if guns were completely banned. There is not one single independent academic study showing ANY gun control law in this nation to have had a positive impact at reducing crime, including background checks. See link to CDC report:
http://www
Will the REAL John McCain please stand up....
I'm still waiting for the "real" Barack Hussein Obama stand up
You need to stop visiting those Islamophobic hate sites. Yes, that is EXACTLY how transparent you you :)
Since we're on the subject of middle names:
How about John "Songbird McCain" as he was known by the Viet Cong and the other P.O.W.s being held with him ?
OR
Would you like to talk about endorsements from crazy Ministers ?
The score on that is........
Climb back into your hole Jibee
Why can't they just leave us alone?
There are too many valid uses of firearms to list here. There are lots of laws to punish illegal gun use. What you see happening now is the attempt to stampeed the legal firearms owners into voting one way; while somehow finessing the anti-gun movement. The Republicans have had a good run with the issue in past years. Senator Clinton even embraced the romantic plinker image in Pennsylvania this year. State legislatures play this same game every year too.
I think most of us are see the folly of being single issue voters. Second Ammendment rights are useless without the rest of the Constitution.
Oh, and a special big thanks to Christian Reverend Governor Huckabee. He managed to get the NRA associated with racist assasination jokes in a momentary revelation of his true inner self. The NRA lost all credibility for this election cycle with that statement.
Why are you so flipping soft. What can you say about Obama? Dont get me wrong, that was just a bad joke however leave it at that. McCain/Hillary is fair game however Obama is becoming like Mohammad and you know how that goes down when someone makes fun of him.
Ok, now I understand. You're just scared. Ignorant. Uniformed. Narrow-minded. But mostly, you're just scared. I have good news for you, tho. Once you overcome your fear your mind will expand and be more open to truth and reality and then you will no longer be uninformed, ignorant or narrow-minded.
And then an amazing thing will happen... you will NEVER be afraid again. And then you can also stop clinging to guns and religion.
Instead you will be truly religious (assuming you are set store in religion) and enjoy guns, but they wont define your existence.
The thing McCain and the NRA right wing people have in common is a black democratic man. There is a book once written and talked about named "Why a black man can't be president" and alot of white men live by those reasons listed in that book. So they fear not their guns being taken away but they fear Obama. That is why they will rally behind a man who said the same thing Obama said about tighter restrictions on guns. McCain is a double talker. The way he first talked about things ( guns, Hamas, Hagee, Karl Rove) is the way he felt but now he needs their support which means he will sell his wife out to be in the incrowd with the republicans. It is funny to me that he is working with Karl Rove the man who fabricated stories about his child, talked about his wife and affairs, and other personal issues that hurt his image. Just goes to show you he is not to be trusted because he is the say anything politics that we don't need. At least Obama has been consistent with every issue and took things people disagreed with him on head on. Before voting for McCain because you hate Obama just please do your research on McCain because he flips harder than he flops. Check out Keating 5.
Newsflash: The City of Chicago currently has a ban on hand guns and how dose that goes the constitution?
I'd say the "dose" is approximately 5 milligrams.
NEWSFLASH: you obviously are incapable of constructing a complete, cogent sentance.
Go finish the 6th grade there, Jethro.
"How dose that goes the Constitution"?
Good Point
What's the matter Ray? Not getting enough respect for the AHSA?
Just what would you expect? That the NRA will not listen to the man? That the NRA may cut its throat by endorsing a Democrat as I think you would/will? McCain is not the man we would wish for, but I can't see myself ever voting for a Democrat! Guess I'll just have to hold my nose when I vote for McCain.
Semper fi
If you're going to base your vote on a single issue like that you've got some pretty sesious brain damage going on. Who do you think took away firearms from New Orleans residents after Katrina?
Semper Fi
I would say it was the Lefty Mayor of New Orleans or the Lefty Governor of Louisiana that declared Martial Law and authorized the disarming of law abiding citizens after Katrina. It definately wasn't John McCain.
http://www
This is the link telling who disarmed the law abiding citizens of New Orleans.
One needs to keep in mind the NRA is not a one-issue lobby devoted merely to gun rights. They are pretty right-wing across the board.
Since it is practically impossible to be left-wing and pro-Constitution, I would say that you are correct.
Semper fi
Semper fi your own rear end, Beretta. My brother was a Marine in Vietnam and supports Obama. Let's start talking about who's supporting the Bill of Rights and who's tried to dismantle it over the past eight years.
If by the Constitution, your mindset is limited to the Second Amendment, you might be interested in hearing that Obama has taught (as a Constitutional Law professor) and stated in speeches that the Second Amendment does cover private gun ownership. But, it can be conditioned as necessary, particularly in inner city areas where the hunting rationale is less persuasive.
After 7 and 1/2 years of dismantling our constitution by the RIGHT WINGERS that the NRA would be relying on that same group to uphold there constitutional rights is a joke.
The NRA is not just about gun rights.
I wonder what there real agenda is???
Transcript of McCain's speech
http://www
McCain has lied all his life. This speech as you call it is from the biggest flip flopper.
He lies and flip flops to 'APPEASE' anyone.
I don't believe him. And I'm from Arizona!
Currently as the Republican standard-bearer the old straight talk express (Senator McCain) has had to turn his back on just about everything for which he has ever stood. This means that running on virtually the same platform as that of a failed president, and having become the greatest flip flopper on record, almost any card he plays is bound to be a weak except one. Once John boy has played out all his losers, alas, you know he will feel compelled to play his back ace, the race card. How long before he holds off, who knows. But stirring up tribal instincts is a power play John’s handlers are not about to pass up. National unity be damned, with guns blazzing.
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