ST. ALBANS, W.Va., May 16, 2008
McCain Courts Gun Owners At NRA
Presumptive GOP Nominee Suggests Obama, Clinton Would Undermine Gun Owners' Rights
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Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, autographs Sportsmen for McCain t-shirts as he visits St. Albans Gun and Archery store with his wife Cindy, right, Friday, May 16, 2008, in Charleston, W. Va. (AP)
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Interactive Guns In America State-by-state gun laws and death rates, maps of recent school and workplace shootings and facts on who's at risk.
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Photo Essay John McCain Some call him a hero, some a maverick. Will Americans call him Mr. President?
"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," the Republican nominee-in-waiting told a crowd of several thousand.
McCain acknowledged he has been no darling of gun-rights advocates, having pushed through signature campaign finance legislation gun supporters say has muzzled free speech. The Arizona senator has also favored tighter restrictions for buying guns at gun shows.
Nonetheless, McCain said he expected the votes of gun owners in his general election campaign against either Obama or Clinton, the remaining Democratic presidential contenders.
"I supported campaign finance reform because I strongly believed our system of financial campaigns was influencing elected officials to put the interests of `soft money' ahead of the public interest," the senator said to silence. Softmoney is unlimited contributions from wealthy individuals corporations or unions.
"It is neither my purpose nor the purpose of the legislation to prevent gun owners or any other group of citizens from making their voices heard in the legislative process," he said.
"Those disagreements do not detract from my long record of support for the Second Amendment and the work we have done together to protect the rights of gun owners ...," he added.
Earlier, after visiting a gun store in St. Albans, W.Va., when he bought only a rod, bobbers and other fishing equipment, McCain said the only gun controls he favors are limits to keep guns from people with criminal backgrounds or indications of mental problems.
He added that, as president, he would sign a law that prohibited individuals from buying guns at a gun show without going through the same checks as those buying guns at regular stores.
McCain's visit to West Virginia, a general election battleground state, and his appearance at an NRA convention in Kentucky, were aimed at assuring gun owners a McCain administration would not infringe upon their rights.
In isolation, the questions about McCain's gun record could be troubling to a candidate vying for the votes of conservatives, former members of the military and residents in the South, where guns and hunting are prominent elements of the culture.
Yet in comparison to his potential Democratic rivals, McCain could be viewed as the most supportive of gun rights.
He told the NRA that Democrats have learned since the 2000 election between Al Gore and George Bush not to talk about gun control. He jabbed repeatedly at Obama, the Illinois senator who leads the Democratic delegate count, including deriding him for a recent comment about Pennsylvanians "clinging to guns and religion" amid economic stress.
Clinton also criticized Obama for the remark, prompting Obama to accuse the former first lady "like she's on the duck blind every Sunday, packin' a six-shooter!"
As the NRA audience laughed, McCain said: "Someone should tell Senator Obama that ducks are usually hunted with shotguns."
Obama spoke to reporters Friday in Watertown, S.D., and was asked about gun rights and whether Republicans would make it an issue in the general election campaign.
"They'll try, of course. They've got the same playbook in every election and guns is going to be one of those issues," the Illinois senator said. Describing his position, Obama said, "People have the right to lawfully bear arms. There's nothing inconsistent with also saying we can institute some common-sense gun laws so that we don't have kids being shot on the streets of cities like Chicago. Those are laws that I think a majority of Americans believe in."
Clinton, a senator from New York, made stricter gun control one of the themes of her first Senate campaign in 2000.
Also addressing the crowd of thousands was former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Last year, Romney sought the support of gun owners by declaring himself a lifelong hunter, only to later step back and recast himself as a sporadic opponent of "small varmints." Romney assured the crowd that despite any differences they have with McCain, "I believe that he's right on issue after issue that counts."
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See all 82 CommentsWith far more guns than any other country, why isn%u2019t America the safest country in the world, if more guns is the answer?
In a February 1991 article for Life Magazine, Atwater wrote:
My illness helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart, a lot of brotherhood. The ''''80s were about acquiring -- acquiring wealth, power, prestige. I know. I acquired more wealth, power, and prestige than most. But you can acquire all you want and still feel empty. What power wouldn''''t I trade for a little more time with my family? What price wouldn''''t I pay for an evening with friends? It took a deadly illness to put me eye to eye with that truth, but it is a truth that the country, caught up in its ruthless ambitions and moral decay, can learn on my dime. I don''''t know who will lead us through the ''''90s, but they must be made to speak to this spiritual vacuum at the heart of American society, this tumor of the soul.
McCain/Bush and his family were all over this and it cost the American tax payer over $1.4 trillion dollars!
It stems from deregulation of the S&Ls.
Do some research.
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Posted by hungrymama
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Well, it%u2019s the annual time for the NRA to gather and lather up its membership with all sorts of hyperbolic fears about alleged efforts to disarm Americans and the right of every %u201Claw-abiding%u201D citizen to pack heat at all times.
As a May 17th New York Daily News column reports:
A small but startling sign welcomed the gun lovers who arrived at the National Rifle Association''s annual gathering Friday.
"Firearms WILL NOT be allowed in Hall A during the Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum."
Beyond this sign at the Kentucky Exposition Center was a row of 10 metal detectors. They were manned by uniformed Secret Service officers deployed because the scheduled speakers included presumptive Republican nominee John McCain.
The Secret Service sets the rules in such circumstances, and even NRA big shots had to go through the screening. Thousands found themselves standing in a long, slow, feeder line before they even reached one of the lines that stretched in front of each metal detector.
(CONT)
Good grief. All those NRA honchos preaching the demagogic gospel of %u201Csinister%u201D efforts to turn America into a gunless dictatorship had to enter the convention by waiting in a line to go through gun detectors to prove that they weren%u2019t carrying guns or ammunition.
Why, that%u2019s positively %u201CunAmerican,%u201D except that the NRA members saw nothing ironic apparently in submissively disarming because the Secret Service considers armed men and women as potentially dangerous to presidential candidates.
So why does someone running for president get the benefit of the doubt regarding gun control, while we %u2013 the public %u2013 remain unprotected?
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A small but startling sign welcomed the gun lovers who arrived at the National Rifle Association''s annual gathering Friday.
"Firearms WILL NOT be allowed in Hall A during the Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum."
Beyond this sign at the Kentucky Exposition Center was a row of 10 metal detectors. They were manned by uniformed Secret Service officers deployed because the scheduled speakers included presumptive Republican nominee John McCain.
-Wait a minute, isn''t arming everybody suppose to make us safer??
omg, John McLame was just babbling on on CNN - nothing more weak looking than just bashing your opponent without first having established a solid foundation making it clear where you stand. I''m sure everybody in the room had it going through their minds that he hasn''t exactly been best friends to the NRA in the past and therefore that he was coming across once again as a pandering phony.
For those on the Right worried about Dems infringing on their 2A rights, please be clear that the concern for many Dems aren''t the hunters, gun collectors, and those who believe that Government attempts to curtain gun rights might theoretically infringe on their ability to ever organize an uprising. The concern for Dems is crime and the subsequent harms that result when guns are used - mostly an urban concern.
It''s not even clear that the laws that are on the books are helping combat urban crime given that maybe some if not the majority of gun-related crimes may actually involve unregistered fire arms. And then there are always other weapons at ill-doer''s disposals, like knives or whatever.
As I''ve said before, I guess we Dems basically see it as a matter of attempting to best maximize the freedoms that responsible gun owners are afforded by 2A while simultaneously attempting to minimize the ill effects brought on by those who abuse that privilege. The key is trying to figure out how to best do that using our system of laws.
The larger point being that when McLame says we Dems are ''trying to take away your guns'' because we ''don''t respect your way of life'', ask yourself when was the last time Johnny McLame said anything that made you all glad he was up in Washington speaking on your behalf until he wanted your vote. Talk about disrespect . . . we Dems may work from across the aisle, but at least we listen to what you''re trying to tell us and will try to find a fair compromise - that''s a promise you can trust . . .
Posted by dragonwagon5 at 09:19 AM : May 17, 2008
Never seen a Wally World sell AR15.
McCain apparently prefers these kinds of statistics.
Posted by ubrew12
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If we took the guns away from the blacks those numbers would come down.
Posted by eatmochickn
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Looks like we are going to be eating wings and necks the next 4 years. Latest Gallop poll says McCain has pulled way ahead of Obama and is still gaining.
Posted by sleepyric at 08:06 AM : May 17, 2008
Yeah, go back to sleep. We who are old enough remember the gun bans imposed by Billy Boy Clintoon and his Democrap congress.
McCain apparently prefers these kinds of statistics.
Airaan is thee nexth targit.
A Republeecan.
Likewise terrorism. In the name of GWOT, Bush has probably killed 300,000 people, tortured thousands more, and destroyed the original Al-Qaida: but he''s created the conditions whereby hatred of the U.S. has quadrupled, and its reflected in terror statistics. As with violent crime, Bush is one Republican who THANKS HIS LUCKY STARS FOR GWOT!! The last thing he''d want to do is get rid of the conditions that led to it.
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