Presidential Election 2008, Pro-gunners -- Keep Your Powder Dry

The national media tends to "anoint" presidential contenders based on who has the most money in the bank, not on who is most "beloved" (read that as the least obnoxious) by the voters of America.

But history has proven the highest pile of money theory as a bad barometer of who will ultimately win.

Ronald Reagan did not have the most money when he first ran for Governor of California or President of the United States, yet he became Governor and President and a major figure in American history for his efforts.

Today, Hillary has the most money in the bank and is considered the front-runner on the Democrat ticket. John McCain, Rudy Guilianni and Mitt Romney all have money in the bank and they are the "big three" on the Republican side.

The problem for pro-gun voters is that every one of these candidates has proven to be anything but pro-gun in their voting habits and speech.

Simply put, we need to keep our powder dry, because this race is not over. There are a few announced candidates who are pro-gun. California Congressman Duncan Hunter is a strong supporter of the goals of Gun Owners of America.

Texas Congressman Ron Paul's pro-gun credentials are impeccable and he has been a leading proponent of rolling back the past 40 years of gun control.

Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, Representative Tom Tancredo of Colorado, and Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas are also strong Second Amendment candidates.

These are good men, but have not built much momentum at this point. If any one of these does, we will have a presidential candidate to help with all our combined muscle from the pro-gun community.

There may be a solid pro-gunner to step up if none of the current pro-gunners gain momentum in the near future. Time will tell, and we will be there to help if a true pro-gun candidate shows he or she can and is building a solid campaign.

This Presidential contender information center on the GOA website will continue to give information on the pro-gun and anti-gun positions of all the candidates. We will even promote some pro-gunners who are not running who we think would make great Presidents.

Please keep checking on this site as we "fill in the blanks" on all candidates and potential candidates over the weeks and months ahead.

Information regarding Brownback's gun rights history is currently being gathered.

As Attorney General and then Governor of Virginia, Jim Gilmore compiled an up-and-down record on the Second Amendment. A detailed analysis will follow shortly.

As Speaker of the House, Gingrich often generated frustration among gun owners by acting as a blocking force standing in the way of pro-gun reform. He has been rated as low as "D" by Gun Owners of America.

The 2007 version of Rudy Giuliani defends his past support of gun control as a necessary evil to fight crime in a big city.

When pressed about his views of the Second Amendment by Sean Hannity of Fox News, Giuliani attempted to tap dance around his gun control record without alienating the 290 million people who don't live in New York City.

The former mayor told Hannity that gun control was "appropriate" for the city, but that states and cities should be allowed to make those decisions locally.

"So," Hannity continued, "you would support the state's rights to choose on specific gun laws?"

"Yes, I mean, a place like New York that is densely populated, or maybe a place that is experiencing a serious crime problem, maybe you have one solution there and in another place, more rural, more suburban, other issues, you have a different set of rules."

Apparently, in Giuliani's America law-abiding citizens in large cities would not enjoy the same constitutional liberties as the rest of the country. Why? Are city dwellers not as trustworthy as country folks? Are metro-Americans not deserving of the right to self-protection?

Disarming citizens because they live in a high crime area is taking away the most effective means of self-defense from the people who need it most. Creating mandatory victims is no way to fight a crime problem.1

If Giuliani's gun control agenda was really limited 'only' to big cities, that would be disturbing enough. But the record shows that the Mayor continually tried to export his gun control agenda to the rest of the nation.

The new Giuliani of state's rights simply does not square with the Mayor of the '90s.

In 1993, before even being sworn in as mayor, Giuliani met with then-President Clinton at the White House to discuss national gun registration. Giuliani supported the Brady bill, which had recently passed, but argued that it didn't go far enough.

The President, largely crediting Giuliani for the idea, enthusiastically sent Attorney General Janet Reno off to develop a gun licensing and registration system.2

The Clinton-Giuliani scheme was slowed only by the Republican Revolution of 1994.

In May of 1994, as the battle over the ban on certain semi-automatic firearms reached its height, Giuliani threw his support behind the ban. On the eve of the final vote, he noted that so-called assault weapons "have no legitimate purpose."3

When the ban passed, Giuliani commented that, "This is an important step towards curtailing the indiscriminate proliferation of guns across the nation."4 [emphasis added]

When a lunatic attacked innocent civilians at the Empire State Building in 1997, Mayor Giuliani used the tragedy to again push for gun control beyond his city's limits.

"We need a federal law that bans all assault weapons, and if in fact you do need a handgun you should be subjected to at least the same restrictions -- and really stronger ones -- that exist for driving an automobile," the Mayor said.

"The United States Congress needs to pass uniform licensing for everyone carrying a gun."5

When the Mayor did focus on City gun laws, which already were among the most stringent in the country, his effort was only to further disarm the law-abiding.

In 1998, Giuliani pushed a proposal that would require gun owners to use "trigger locks" on all firearms, thus rendering the guns useless in the even of an emergency. Such a law would be enforced, said the Mayor, through "criminal penalties and the revocation of gun permits."6

If Giuliani had a federalist conversion, it did not occur in his first six years as mayor, for in 2000, he again took his gun control show on the road.

In becoming the first Republican mayor to launch a city lawsuit against gun makers, Giuliani complained that "less restrictive gun laws in other parts of the country" exacerbated the crime problem in New York City.7

Giuliani is not only a long-time supporter of gun control, but his support was convenient to leading anti-gun Democrats eager for the appearance of bipartisanship.

A big-city mayor supporting gun control is hardly newsworthy. The fact that Giuliani is a Republican gave the story its man-bites-dog angle.

In the midst of the fight over the 1994 crime bill and semi-auto gun ban, Giuliani escorted President Clinton to Minnesota to stump for the bill. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune noted that, "Clinton seemed especially proud that New York's Republican Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, as well as Philadelphia's Democratic Mayor Edward Rendell, agreed to accompany him on his trip."8

New York Senator Chuck Schumer also gleefully accepted Giuliani's support of the semi-auto ban. According to a Newsday article, Schumer hoped Giuliani would "sway some skittish Republicans."9

The following year, when the Republican controlled Congress tried to repeal the gun ban, Giuliani made the trip to Washington to testify against the repeal effort.

So, if the new Rudy Giuliani in fact supports state's rights in the area of gun control, it is a dramatic shift from the policies he has been advocating for over a decade.

This flirtation with federalism is merely a facade, however, for in the recent interview with Sean Hannity, Giuliani assured gun owners that he supports only gun control laws that are "reasonable and sensible." He then went on to defend his support of the Brady bill and the semi-auto ban, which are neither.10

To most Americans, Mike Huckabee is probably best known for shedding 110 pounds. But gun owners may remember the former Arkansas Governor as a man who stood firm for the Constitution, and in particular, the Second Amendment, in the face of unspeakable horror.

On March 24, 1998, Andrew Golden and Mitchell Johnson went to a Jonesboro, Arkansas middle school, pulled a fire alarm, and from a nearby wooded area shot and killed four students and a teacher.

The Jonesboro incident was the third in a string of school shootings, and the calls for gun control were deafening. President Bill Clinton, who had been Arkansas' Governor several years earlier, not surprisingly led the charge to restrict gun ownership.

People across the country also saw, most for the first time, Governor Huckabee. Would he join those exploiting the tragedy for political purposes and compromise on gun rights? Many people expected him to do just that, but even as the media, the president and anti-gun activists from around the country derided him, the Governor stood by his convictions to uphold the rule of law.

Instead of jumping on the bandwagon to add to the burgeoning list of gun laws on the books, Governor Huckabee talked about personal responsibility and the obsession with violence widespread among this country's youth.

On NBC's Today Show, Governor Huckabee refused to allow host Katie Couric to blame law-abiding gun owners for the shooting:

Couric: Governor Huckabee, this is the third deadly shooting to take place in the South in the last five months. And some criminal experts have ventured a guess that southern society, which has a more permissive attitude towards guns and hunting, and perhaps in some circles even glamorizes those things, that that might have been a factor in some -- in this recent spade of shootings. What's your view of that?

Gov. Huckabee: I take strong exception to that kind of view. Southerners may have a very positive view toward the ownership of firearms and even hunting, but we don't have a positive view about murder, and we certainly don't have a positive view toward murder in a schoolyard.

Two years later, Governor Huckabee was involved in another widely publicized Second Amendment debate. In 2000, much of the firearms industry was involved in a series of bogus lawsuits brought by cities, states, and the federal government.

Gun maker Smith & Wesson relented to pressure from the Clinton Administration to settle out of court, and agree on nearly all of the outlandish charges brought in the lawsuits.

In return for this, the company would be rewarded with state and federal government contracts. New York's Attorney General (now Governor) Elliot Spitzer sent a letter to elected officials across the country urging them to support the deal.

"Gun manufacturers make the Second Amendment a viable right rather than some theoretical proposition. I will not abuse my authority as governor to pursue their demise or dictate their business practices through coercion," he wrote.

"I will not seek the capitulation of firearm manufacturers through the use of asinine lawsuits or the doling out of taxpayer-funded government contracts. I regret that you feel either of these tactics to be worthwhile endeavors."

Governor Huckabee also signed a law prohibiting frivolous lawsuits against gun makers and eased restrictions on concealed carry permit holders in Arkansas.

Mike Huckabee has been in the heat of battle over gun rights and has proven himself to be a steadfast friend to gun owners and the Second Amendment.

I've personally known Duncan Hunter for over thirty years, both as a fellow conservative legislator and a big game hunting companion. We have bow hunted mule deer in the high desolate mountains of Nevada and stalked elk in deep snows of Montana.

Hunting is a passion to him as it is for me. You get to know a man very well around a campfire in the wild. Duncan has a deep appreciation and hands on love of America's great out doors. He is deeply committed to preserving our American heritage and our Constitutional rights. Duncan has no trouble understanding and defending our Second Amendment.

If Congressman Hunter is successful in his run for the presidency, I wouldn't be surprised if sometimes he will be compared with Theodore Roosevelt, since both have much in common. Both are avid hunters and practical conservationists. Both believe and were active in building a strong military. Both are war veterans and both had sons in active combat. Both believe and were active in protecting our borders. Both are outspoken on key issues and both are willing to confront militarily Muslim extremists. Both are fearless and have a proven love for our country. The more one investigates the lives of these two men, the more one finds what they have in common.

Americans who believe the Second Amendment is crucial to freedom, especially hunters, aren't easily fooled by the campaign ads of candidates who take off their suit coat and tie, pull on a newly purchased hunting coat, stand out in a local field and hold a rifle or shotgun for the news cameras. Posing for these "pro-gun" commercials doesn't make a candidate a "pro-gunner." It takes a deep understanding of the Constitution and years of voting and speaking out to protect our rights. And it doesn't hurt to really be a hunter, shooter, or collector of guns. Congressman Duncan Hunter is all of these things and would serve our nation well as President.

Congressman Hunter's Biography below is worth reading as you're thinking about Presidential candidates you might support.

About Duncan Hunter Since first being elected to Congress in 1980, Duncan Hunter has devoted himself to ensuring that our military is second to none, securing our nation's borders, and protecting American workers from unfair competition. Hunter works on these issues because he believes that America's greatest strength is our freedom and its protection requires our effort in all areas.

A Vietnam veteran, Duncan Hunter served in the 173rd Airborne and 75th Army Rangers and, after coming home, utilized the G.I. Bill to attend Western State University Law School in San Diego (now Thomas Jefferson School of Law). While completing his degree, Hunter supplemented his income by working in farming and construction, and opened a storefront legal office after graduation where he began serving many in the Hispanic community, often without compensation.

In 1980, Hunter was asked to mount a challenge for the Congressional seat held by 18-year incumbent Lionel Van Deerlin. Despite the district having a 2-to-1 Democrat registration, Hunter won the seat in an upset. Coming to Washington, Hunter successfully sought a seat on the House Armed Services Committee where he could work on America's national security needs. Serving on this committee throughout his career, Hunter became Chairman of the full committee in 2002, overseeing a $532 billion defense budget. During his chairmanship from 2002-2006, and now as Ranking Member of the committee, Hunter focuses his efforts on providing President Bush with the necessary resources to win our nation's military conflicts, protecting our men and women in uniform, and developing modernization initiatives that will move new and more effective technologies into the field of battle.

Living in a border community, Hunter also came to Congress to make securing the California-Mexico border a top priority. Hunter's goal was to make the region safe for communities on both sides of the border by providing the necessary resources to our border enforcement agencies. September 11th, however, made border security a national security issue and Hunter responded by leading efforts in Congress to seal a porous border susceptible to illegal aliens, drug trafficking and terrorism. Hunter's efforts have resulted in over 59 miles of fencing and border infrastructure to date in San Diego County. Hunter also wrote the Secure Fence Act, extending the San Diego fence 854 miles across California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. These fence provisions were signed into law by President Bush on October 26, 2006.

On the House Armed Services Committee, Hunter has protected U.S. defense jobs in aircraft, ship repair, machine tools, textile, steel and titanium to ensure that what he calls the "Arsenal of Democracy," the U.S. industrial base, is maintained to provide security in time of war. Hunter's other legislative priorities include retaining and increasing jobs across this nation, providing tax relief to hard-working families, keeping our promises to America's veterans, protecting Social Security for present and future generations, and promoting strong family values.

Hunter resides in East San Diego County with his wife Lynne where they, like many of their neighbors, just completed re-building their Alpine home after it was lost in the October 2003 wildfires. In 2006, Duncan and Lynne celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary; they have two sons, Duncan Duane, who served two tours in Iraq in the U.S. Marine Corps, and Sam Hunter, a business student at San Diego State University. Duncan D. and his wife, Margaret, have three children, Duncan Lee, Elizabeth Grace and Sarah Louise, and reside in Boise, Idaho. Sam was married on Valentine's Day 2004 to the former Theresa Heger of Jamul and they had their first child, Marin, in October of 2006.

In 2000, Andrew McKelvey, the billionaire founder of monster.com, threw a sizable chunk of his fortune into the gun control debate.

It was shortly after the Columbine school shooting. Bill Clinton was in the White House and gun control was daily front-page news. McKelvey wanted in.

He started out contributing to Handgun Control Inc., which had since been renamed the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. But while he agreed with their gun banning goals, McKelvey thought the way they packaged their message was too polarizing.

"I told them that Handgun Control was the wrong name. I thought what they were doing was great but I thought it could be done differently," McKelvey said.

So McKelvey struck out on his own and formed Americans for Gun Safety. Although AGS shared almost identical public policy goals as other anti-gun groups, McKelvey portrayed the group as in the 'middle' on the issue and attempted to lure pro-gun advocates into his fold.

To pull it off, he needed a bipartisan coalition with credibility on both sides of the gun debate. On the anti-gun side, the task was easy. Most of the Democrats and a small but vocal minority of Republicans supported President Clinton's gun control agenda.

Finding someone who could stake a claim as a pro-gunner and yet be willing to join McKelvey was not so easy. Enter Senator John McCain.

McCain's star was already falling with conservatives. He had carved out a niche as a 'maverick' as the author of so-called Campaign Finance Reform (more aptly named the incumbent protection act), which was anathema to conservatives but made him a darling of the mainstream media.

Gun owners were outraged over CFR, but McCain still maintained some credibility on the gun issue.

Earlier in his career, McCain had voted against the Clinton crime bill (which contained a ban on so-called assault weapons), and he did not join the 16 Senate Republicans who voted for the Brady bill, which required a five-day waiting period for the purchase of a handgun.

But as he ramped up for his presidential run in 2000, McCain, expanding on the 'maverick' theme, staked out a position on guns far to the left of his primary opponent, George W. Bush.

McCain began speaking out against small, inexpensive handguns and he entertained the idea of supporting the 'assault weapons' ban. His flirtation with anti-Second Amendment legislation quickly led to a political marriage of convenience with McKelvey.

Within months of the formation of AGS, McCain was featured in radio and television ads in Colorado and Oregon supporting initiatives to severely regulate gun shows and register gun buyers. Anti-gunners were ecstatic to get McCain on board.

Political consultant Scott Reed, who managed Bob Dole's presidential campaign in 1996, hoped McCain would "bring a conservative perspective to the gun debate."

The ads not only pushed the anti-gun show measure in those two states, they also served to undermine the efforts of gun rights activists who were furiously lobbying against the same type of bill in Congress.

"I think that if the Congress won't act, the least I can do is support the initiative in states where it's on the ballot," McCain said in an interview.

At the time still a newcomer to the gun control debate, McCain said, "I do believe my view has evolved."

McCain continued to pursue his anti-gun agenda even after his presidential run ended, and the next year he and McKelvey made it to the big screen.

As moviegoers flocked to see Pearl Harbor, they were treated to an anti-gun trailer ad featuring McCain. This time the Senator was pushing legislation to force people to keep firearms locked up in the home.

"We owe it to our children to be responsible by keeping our guns locked up," McCain told viewers.

Economist and author John Lott, Jr., noted, "No mention was ever made by McCain about using guns for self-defense or that gunlocks might make it difficult to stop intruders who break into your home. And research indicates that McCain's push for gunlocks is far more likely to lead to more deaths than it saves."

Also in 2001, McCain went from being a supporter of anti-gun bills to being a lead sponsor.

Pro-gun allies in Congress who were holding off gun show legislation -- which would at best register gun owners and at worst close down the shows entirely -- were angered when McCain teamed up with Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and introduced a "compromise" bill to give the issue momentum.

"There is a lot of frustration. He has got his own agenda," one Republican Senator told Roll Call.

After September 11, 2001, McKelvey and McCain, now joined by Lieberman, had a new angle to push gun control.

"Terrorists are exploiting the gun show loophole," AGS ads hyped. McCain and Lieberman hit the airwaves again in a series of radio and TV spots, thanks to McKelvey's multi-million dollar investment.

A Cox News Service article noted that, "The ads first focused on gun safety but switched to terrorism after Sept. 11. Americans for Gun Safety said the switch is legitimate."

However, Second Amendment expert Dave Kopel pointed out that, "the McCain-Lieberman bill is loaded with poison pills which would allow a single appointed official to prevent any gun show, anywhere in the United States from operating."

Ultimately, the anti-gun legislation was killed in the Congress and AGS fizzled out and disappeared altogether. The issues for which McKelvey spent over $10 million are still in play, however, and John McCain remains a supporter of those causes. In fact, as recently as 2004, McCain was able to force a vote on a gun show amendment.

In the post-Columbine and post-9/11 environments, the Second Amendment was under attack as never before. Pro-gun patriotic Americans who stood as a bulwark to keep the Congress from eviscerating the Constitution were dismayed to look across the battle lines only to see Senator McCain working with the enemy.

John McCain tried running for president in 2000 as an anti-gunner. This year it appears he is seeking to "come home" to the pro-gun community, but the wounds are deep and memories long.

At one time a true darling among some conservatives, who perhaps didn't really know him that well, over the years it has become evident that George Pataki is at best a left-leaning moderate. He is fully capable of supporting any gun control proposal if it is politically expedient to do so. What he has already done is bad enough; check back soon for a complete report.

Ron Paul has represented areas near Houston, Texas for nearly 20 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. He has the reputation of the paramount defender of the Constitution and seeks to follow it in casting every one of his votes.

Ron Paul has been a leader in the fight to defend and restore the Second Amendment. He has sponsored legislation to repeal the following:

the Brady law;
the requirement to lock up your safety (guns);
the law permitting the US to be part of the UN (which, among other attacks on American freedoms, seeks to ban privately transfered firearms);
participation in UNESCO -- which has been used to dumb down US education standards;
the federal prohibition on importation of guns on a sporting basis test;
federal prohibitions on any pilot wishing to carry a handgun to and in his cockpit; and, the so-called "assault weapons" ban (prior to its sunsetting in 2004).

Paul also has sponsored legislation requiring states to treat the concealed carry permit of one state the same as they do that state's driver's license.

Paul has viewed his opposition to a national ID card as a protection for gun owners. A national ID card would most likely identify the bearer as a gun owner, among other things of interest to government officials.

Paul acknowledges his underdog status in the 2008 presidential race. He argues that he is offering himself as a pro-Second Amendment alternative to the candidates who have initially led the field, none of whom have a pro-gun record. Paul hopes to use his long experience in raising grassroots support to gain sufficient funding to become the pro-gun alternative to the current leaders of the field.

Ron Paul is a Medical Doctor who for years even as a member of Congress continued practicing as an obstetrician. He is married and has five children, 17 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

As he travels through the South -- contemplating a run for the presidency -- Mitt Romney sounds like the modern-day incarnation of John Wayne.

He tells shooters how he used to hunt rabbits as a boy. He visits with attendees at gun shows, impressing them with his knowledge of the Bill of Rights. He quotes the "right to keep and bear arms" language from memory and assures gun owners he's on their side.

But wait, isn't this the same Mitt Romney -- the former governor of Massachusetts -- who boasted that his view on firearms was "not going to make me the hero" of the gun lobby?

In fact, it is one and the same man. So what happened to the candidate who promised that he would not lift a finger to "chip away" at the gun laws in Massachusetts -- a state that has some of the most draconian gun restrictions in the union?

When Romney ran for Senate in 1994, he told the Boston Herald that he supported the Brady gun-control law and a ban on scores of semi-automatic firearms. Both laws were heavily supported by Democrats and -- according to President Bill Clinton -- were the reason that his party lost control of the Congress in 1994.

Ten years later, the federal ban on semi-automatic firearms was stripped from the law books. The banned guns became legal once again, and despite the Chicken Little cries from gun control advocates around the country, crime rates did not soar.

This should not be surprising. After the semi-auto ban expired in 2004, the Congressional Research Service admitted there was no evidence to support the notion that the ban had actually reduced crime, especially since -- and here's a great admission -- the "banned weapons and magazines were never used in more than a modest fraction of all gun murders" before the ban was implemented.

Likewise, the Brady gun control law has done nothing to curb crime, as was reported in one of the nation's leading anti-gun medical publications, the Journal of the American Medical Association. The journal definitively stated in 2000 that the Brady law has failed to reduce "homicide rates and overall suicide rates" in states after they were required to impose waiting periods and background checks.

But despite the failure of these gun laws, Romney did not back off his support for gun control during his run for governor in 2002.

"We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts; I support them," he said during a gubernatorial debate with Democratic candidate Shannon O'Brien. "I won't chip away at them; I believe they protect us and provide for our safety."

Perhaps Mr. Romney knows something that the criminologists don't know -- the criminologists who have actually studied these issues and have reported that gun control has failed to make people safer.

What we do know is that even in Massachusetts, Romney has tried to appease both sides of the aisle. As governor, Romney supported legislation to ease restrictions on gun licensing in the state, but he only did so at the expense of gun rights, as he signed a draconian ban on common, household firearms that are owned by millions of Americans across the nation.

This is kind of like the thief who sticks a gun in your ribs and demands $100, but then gives you $25 back to "soften" the blow.

Seeing that Mr. Romney likes to frequent both sides of the legislative aisle, Americans are going to want to know where he really stands on issues that are important to them. And when they go to polls next year, voters are going to be asking, "Will the real Mitt Romney please stand up?"

Tom Tancredo represents a suburban district around Denver that includes Columbine High School. During the post-Columbine assault by anti-gunners, Tancredo wavered from the pro-Second Amendment position. He voted to require people to lock up their safety with trigger locks, criminalize young people who even touched certain semi-automatic firearms, and a couple of other such measures before the Congress at that time.

Subsequently, Tancredo has been very supportive of gun owners, both regarding the Second Amendment as well as the First. In 2002 he opposed the McCain/Feingold incumbent protection act, aka campaign finance reform.

Tancredo's votes have been consistently pro-Second Amendment since that time. He voted to arm pilots over opposition from the Bush administration. He voted to end frivolous lawsuits brought against dealers and manufacturers based on what criminals and negligent abusers do with guns. He supported measurers to get the US out of the anti-gun United Nations, and to terminate the U.S. participation in the anti-gun United Nations Educational and Social Council which pushes anti-gun agendas in U.S. schools.

Tancredo has repeatedly supported congressional measures to exercise Congress' constitutional authority to overturn the D.C. gun ban. His pro-Second Amendment votes also included helping to defeat measures to ban .50 caliber rifles and to enact legislation allowing the suing of any federal official who confiscates a gun during a time of emergency.

Perhaps most telling was that in 2006, Tancredo voted against requiring people to buy a trigger lock that would lock up their safety, effectively reversing his immediate post-Columbine position.

Tancredo, and his wife Jackie, have both taught school. They have two children and five grandchildren.

When a person simply musing about the possibility of running for the GOP presidential nomination finds himself essentially tied with the Democratic frontrunner overnight,1 something has happened.

That something was a collective sigh of relief across America's conservative base. Finally (it was thought), a high-profile candidate… without the liberal baggage of a Giuliani, Romney or McCain.

That's because Thompson is relatively conservative in his overall philosophy. He has no need to convince voters that he has changed his ways and now sees the light, because he has been fairly consistent throughout his career.

He is in his own words "against gun control, generally."2 And his voting record shows that to be true, generally. When he voted anti-gun, it was usually to expand federal authority. This is unfortunately consistent with his being a "law and order conservative" (pardon the pun). A complete report on each individual vote is appended below.

Gun owners should also be aware that Thompson unabashedly favors the odious McCain-Feingold Incumbent Protection Act. This legislation, characterized by its proponents as campaign finance reform, severely limits the abilities of groups like GOA to inform the public about the gun rights voting records of politicians already in office. In many cases, it becomes illegal to even mention a politician's name in on-air advertising the month before an election. Thompson -- having voted in favor of the restrictions several times -- thinks doing so is "not a non-conservative position, although I agree that a lot of people have interpreted it that way."3

Fred Thompson was elected to the Senate as a Republican in 1994 -- the 105th Congress -- to fill the remaining two years of then-Vice-President Al Gore's term. Thompson was reelected (handily) in 1996 to a full six-year term.

The timing was such that many of his "gun votes" on Capitol Hill came during the hysteria following the Columbine tragedy in 1999. It seemed that everyone in the country (except GOA supporters) considered it a foregone conclusion that something regarding gun control had to pass Congress that summer.

The Republican Leadership, especially in the Senate, adopted a "Gun Control Lite" strategy -- hoping to preclude major gun bans by passing specific and less onerous restrictions that were largely extensions of current law.

Happily, GOA supporters rose up in truly Herculean fashion that summer, and when the smoke cleared no new gun control at all had made it to the President's desk. Thompson's actions at that time were somewhat haphazard (he voted both for and against the "Lite" strategy at different points, while voting against most, but not all, anti-gun amendments brought by other Senators).

In total, GOA tracked 33 votes in the U.S. Senate while Thompson was there. He voted pro-gun 19 times.

Rudy Gungrabber. Grabbin guns since 1993 and prouf of it.

A Great Man For The Job!!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sDV3bYkhfjI

Lets all get behind this man...He is the only one for the job of president..

Of all the 'R' candidates Rooty Juilie-Annie is either the most STOO-PID™ or most dangerous - and possibly a combination of both.

His convoluted statements on gun ownership and the 2nd Amendment are infamous but last week he took the cake for D-U-M-B.

In an interview (there was a thread) sharp as a tack Rooty said he belived ....

"In the peoples FIRST AMENDMENT Rights to "carry" and "bear" arms."

Yep Rooty thinks the 1st Amendment covers firearm's rights and to boot, he apparently doesn't know "carry" and "bear" are the same thing. As a bonus he totally forgot the "keep" part. Which btw he did his damnedest to prevent NYC Citizens from doing while he was Dictator of that burg on the Hudson.

Ergo, Rooty is as dumb as a box of rocks -- or dangerous as Hell!

In any case he can't be allowed anywhere near Washington DC, and in any gubmint capacity. He must be discredited as a 'Johnny One Note' FRAUD and defeated asap.

Here are some more great Americans supporting Duncan Hunter..pass it on..Every time I get anything about this great man I send it to my email list..I have a cousin that has no computer and she ask me who I was voting for..So I told her and am now saving things and I have copies of all the articles about this man in a big envelope ready to mail to her..The only thing I can’t send her is the Y Tube things..

http://www.usvetdsp.com/feb07/hunter_vets.htm

Thanks, Beth528! I hadn’t read that one yet. Nice read! Saved to my Duncan file. Keep up the good work and spreading the word.

Whenever I mention to someone that I am supporting Hunter for president, they usually say they don’t know who he is. We have alot of opportunity for educating others about him. When people learn who he is and what he stands for, they are impressed.

Gun owners should also be aware that Thompson unabashedly favors the odious McCain-Feingold Incumbent Protection Act.

Actually, he presently does not.

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