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McCain seeks gun owners' support The Washington Times National

Doug Huffman

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http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080517/NATION/942415808/1002

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Sen. John McCain courted his sometime critics within the gun lobby yesterday, telling the National Rifle Association that Democratic Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton would both undermine the rights of gun owners.

"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.

Mr. McCain acknowledged he has been no darling of gun-rights advocates, having pushed through signature campaign finance legislation gun supporters say has muzzled their free speech. The Arizona senator has also favored tighter restrictions for buying weapons at gun shows.

Nonetheless, Mr. McCain said he expected the votes of gun owners in his general election campaign against either Mr. Obama or Mrs. Clinton, the remaining Democratic presidential contenders.

"I supported campaign finance reform because I strongly believed our system of financing campaigns was influencing elected officials to put the interests of 'soft money' ahead of the public interest," the senator said to silence, referring to funds spent by organizations that are not contributed directly to candidate campaigns and which do not "expressly advocate" the election or defeat of a candidate.

"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."

Earlier, after visiting a gun store in St. Albans, W.Va., where he bought a rod, bobbers and other fishing equipment, Mr. 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.


Mr. 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.

The senator's gun record could be troubling to conservatives, former members of the military and Southerners, to whom guns and hunting are prominent elements of their culture. Yet in comparison to his potential Democratic rivals, Mr. 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 W. Bush not to talk about gun control. He jabbed repeatedly at Mr. Obama, the Illinois senator who leads the Democratic delegate count, including deriding him for a recent comment about Pennsylvanians "clinging to guns and religion" during periods of economic stress.

Mrs. Clinton also criticized Mr. Obama for the remark, prompting the Illinois senator to accuse the former first lady of acting "like she's on the duck blind every Sunday, packin' a six-shooter!"

As the NRA audience laughed, Mr. McCain said: "Someone should tell Senator Obama that ducks are usually hunted with shotguns."

Huckabee's joke about gun aimed at Obama falls flat

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080517/NATION/921126714/1002



LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Republican Mike Huckabee responded to an offstage noise during his speech to the National Rifle Association by suggesting it was Sen. Barack Obama diving to the floor because someone had aimed a gun at him.

Hearing a loud noise and interrupting his speech, the former Arkansas governor said: "That was Barack Obama. He just tripped off a chair. He's getting ready to speak and somebody aimed a gun at him and he — he dove for the floor."

There were only a few murmurs in the crowd after the remark.

The Obama campaign had no comment.

Later yesterday, Mr. Huckabee issued a statement saying that he responded to the noise with "an offhand remark that was in no way intended to offend or disparage Sen. Obama. I apologize that my comments were offensive, that was never my intention."

Mr. Huckabee, who sought the Republican Party's presidential nomination, won the leadoff Iowa caucuses and seven other states. But he dropped out after Sen. John McCain, the likely nominee, piled up a series of big victories. He and former Republican candidate Mitt Romney addressed the NRA convention yesterday as did Mr. McCain.

Mr. Huckabee's comments came during a nearly 20-minute speech in which he criticized the Democratic presidential candidates, saying neither Mr. Obama nor rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton would fight to defend an individual's right to own a gun.

"I'm not sure Senator Obama or Senator Clinton really get it," Mr. Huckabee said.
 

Pointman

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Earlier, after visiting a gun store in St. Albans, W.Va., where he bought a rod, bobbers and other fishing equipment, Mr. McCain said the only gun controls he favors are limits to keep guns from people with criminal backgrounds or indications of mental problems.
This appears to be pandering--people who fish already have equipment, and they generally buy it at a sporting goods store or bait and tackle store, not at a gun store while their campaign is trying to show they're pro-gun.

Too bad a new topic was started instead of just adding it to the original.
 

Doug Huffman

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Sigh. Another would be moderator wannabe. "May 3" ain't news but is history. Like the beat cop, you don't have to ever comment on any post and especially mine.

Maybe a subforum for all mentions of the NRA? that would surely cut down on the number of threads. And ease the demarcation problem.
 

tarzan1888

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Doug I have a question on your origional post.

Which part of McCain's speech am I supposed to believe?

The part where he says he will not infringe on our rights, or the part where he says he will?

Tarzan
 

deepdiver

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tarzan1888 wrote:
Doug I have a question on your origional post.

Which part of McCain's speech am I supposed to believe?

The part where he says he will not infringe on our rights, or the part where he says he will?

Tarzan
And that question pretty much sums up all of it.
 

SouthernBoy

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Truly a sad situation for Americans who support the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.. all of it. Once again, we are going to be faced with the lesser of two evils.

Mr. McCain seems to think that those who buy firearms at gun shows should go through the same process of instant checks as they would were they to make their purchase at a gun store. Well here in Virginia that is a non-issue because they ALREADY TO THIS! You cannot purchase a firearm at a gun show any differently than you can at a gun store. There is NO difference.
 

Dutch Uncle

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Huckabee's so-called joke was tatesless and lame, and I'm sure he feels embarrassed about it. It suggests he doesn't have the requisite political skills to carefully control what comes out of his mouth when in front of a camera. On the other hand, media attempts to paint him and the NRA as redneck racists is ironic, in view of some of Rev. Wright's viciously racist comments. In one media story, they reported that Huckabee's comments were "met with laughter". Listen to the video. A few people chuckled when he made the remark about "tripping off the chair", but his last comment about the gun was followed by a few pained and uncomfortqable chuckles while the rest of the room was silent. The audience knew what a dumb-assed comment it was.
 

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McCain pledges support to gun owners

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051603640.html

LOUISVILLE, May 16 -- Sen. John McCain, once derided as one of the "premier flag-carriers for the enemies of the Second Amendment" by the National Rifle Association, enthusiastically embraced the group's pro-gun agenda at its annual convention here Friday.

In front of a crowd of about 6,000 people who gave him two standing ovations, McCain also mocked Democratic Sen. Barack Obama as a liberal, anti-gun politician and made a direct appeal to the "bitter" voters Obama said were clinging to their "guns or religion" to soothe concerns about their economic struggles.

"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," McCain said.

McCain, who is viewed with suspicion among many gun owners because of his efforts to reform campaign finance laws and his decade-long battle with the NRA over background checks at gun shows, sought to mollify his conservative critics by declaring fealty to the Second Amendment. The presumptive GOP nominee did not abandon his support for background checks, but he tried to cast his disagreements with the NRA as isolated cases separate from otherwise solid support for gun rights.

"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," McCain said. The Second Amendment, he said, "guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms. To argue anything else is to reject the clear meaning of our Founding Fathers."

The NRA appearance continued the political Ping-Pong game that is McCain's campaign, as he seeks to distance himself from President Bush and his party one day and then court the conservative Republican base the next.

Last week's pledge to appoint conservative jurists was followed quickly by Monday's break with Republican orthodoxy on global warming. On Thursday, he vowed to end "hyper-partisanship" and work with Democrats, but on Friday, he joined Oliver North, Karl Rove and Mike Huckabee as a featured speaker at the gun show.

It is a delicate and deliberate balancing act that aides say is designed to reinforce the maverick brand that separates McCain from the rest of his party without angering the traditional core of conservative Republicans. McCain's top strategists say that their candidate will not win in November merely by rallying the GOP base but that he cannot win without it, either.

Key to running against Obama, they say, is attracting white working-class Democrats -- many of whom are gun owners -- to the Republican column. "We're not trying to get a majority of blue-collar Democrats. But if McCain were to get, say, 20 percent nationally of blue-collar Democrats, he wins," McCain senior adviser Charlie Black told reporters recently. But, he added: "We know we have to unify our base and get them to turn out."

Democrats responded quickly to the event, accusing McCain of seeking the blessing of the NRA for crassly political reasons. McCain "definitely has his full pander on in Louisville today," said Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien LaVera.

At the gun show, Huckabee, a former rival for the Republican nomination who is known for his sense of humor, made an awkward joke after hearing a loud sound during his speech. He quipped, "That was Barack Obama. He just tripped off a chair. He's getting ready to speak and somebody aimed a gun at him and he -- he dove for the floor."

During his speech, McCain ridiculed Obama's knowledge of guns and hunting by quoting a recent comment Obama made about using a "six-shooter" in a duck blind. "Someone should tell Senator Obama that ducks are usually hunted with shotguns," McCain said to laughter and applause.

McCain accused Obama and Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of hiding their true stripes by avoiding any mention of gun-control measures they support as they campaign. "If either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama is elected president, the rights of law-abiding gun owners will be at risk," McCain told NRA members.

But McCain himself is viewed with alarm by plenty of gun owners and many in the gun-rights leadership. In 2001, he championed efforts in several states to close the gun-show loophole that allows firearms to be purchased at the shows without background checks.

His starring appearance in several television ads on behalf of gun-control referendums, and his later sponsorship of a federal gun-show bill, caused the NRA to label him an enemy of gun rights and liberal groups to proclaim him one of their favorite lawmakers.

"John McCain was our number one hero," said Jim Kessler, a founder of Americans for Gun Safety, a gun-control group for which McCain filmed a movie trailer and for which his campaign manager, Rick Davis, was a consultant.

"They were bitter enemies, the NRA and John McCain," Kessler said. "They spent month after month just going after him."

In 2001, upset about the effect McCain's campaign finance reform would have on the NRA's ability to influence elections, former NRA head Wayne LaPierre, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal, asked NRA members: "Is it possible that John McCain thinks you have too much freedom?"

This week, however, LaPierre seemed to have put the matter behind him. "I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on those."

Campaigning in West Virginia before the NRA speech, McCain said that he wholeheartedly supports the NRA and its goals and that he is looking forward to again receiving the group's endorsement.

"We've had a disagreement on the gun-show loophole. That is a specific disagreement on an aspect that I believe was a way for people who shouldn't acquire weapons or guns to do so," he said.

In his speech, McCain vowed to protect the rights of gun owners by appointing judges and Supreme Court justices who would respect the wishes of the nation's founders.
 

curtm1911

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And if you all believe any of this twaddle, I have some oceanfront property in Yuma Az. to sell you too. Vote for ME, and I WILL follow the Constitution to the letter of the law.

In other news today, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass), was rushed to the hospital today after suffering a seizure/stroke. Perhaps he'll be leaving the Senate soon, one can only hope.
 

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Pointman

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There's a difference between banding together for a common cause and blindly following.
 

Pointman

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He also doesn't explain that would significantly hurt gun shows. In Wisconsin there's a 48-hour waiting period for handguns purchased from a dealer. By making private sales effectively the same as dealer sales, how could anyone buy a gun at a gun show?
 

imperialism2024

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Thundar wrote:
As for mandatory background checks at gun shows, McLaim never explains how a federal law restricting intrastate trade could be legal.
That's pretty much a moot point now. SCOTUS has pretty much ruled that intrastate commerce no longer exists. Just like how everyone was cheering when this meant the Feds could go after people for having little baggies of concentrated evil, this can be used to justify any other Federal-level law. Hell, I'm sure that if I walk out my door, that can be construed as interstate commerce... I mean, I'm walking through an opening that was built with materials that might have come from out of state, and then once I was outside, I breathed in air that may have originally come from another state. Therefore, the Federal government can regulate my ability to walk outside. I expect a ruling like this after the next Hurricane Katrina, after all of the good little conservative judges are appointed... :uhoh:

ETA: To apply specifically to this, unless the gun was built in-state, using all in-state materials, it will be said that interstate commerce was involving in bringing the gun to the new purchaser, and thus a regulation on that is "legal".
 

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Imp: The U.S. Code already says that since the materials used to make the gun were most likely imported, inter-state commerce applies. Further, since crime may deter parent from letting their children attend schools in high-crime zones, and therefore move to a different state, commerce is affected. Therefore, your assumption is alreadyin place.
 

kimbercarrier

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I'm not against your second amendment rights as much as the other two. They want all your rights I just want most of them.


Vote for me and I'll protect your gun rights by restricting them or taking them away that way you can't abuse something you don't have.:shock:
 

imperialism2024

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As I was going through my junk mail from the last few weeks, I came across a McCain donation solicitation. The second paragraph reads, "It will be a choice between one of the most liberal administrations in modern history, or a Presidency dedicated to upholding long-held conservative principles of limited government, strong national defense and individual freedom."

I chuckled to myself, and wondered why McCain's campaign felt it necessary to continue battling Ron Paul. I mean, who else could they be talking about who would fall into the latter category?" :lol:

It conveniently didn't mention anything about gun owners' rights, though...
 

John

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The real unfortunate thing about this election cycle is that no matter who wins the White House, the Democratic Party is going to increasingly consolidate its power in Congress. It is without question that Obama and Clinton would be far more supportive of gun control legislation than McCain, but do you really believe that McCain would have the balls to veto gun control legislation? I don't. The only thing that is going to save us is if the increases in Democratic legislators are primarily among more conservative types who will defend the second amendment. Don't count on it, though. Come January, all bets are off.
 
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