by Dave Workman
Senior Editor

American gunowners cannot be complacent about the political landscape today, because it could change dramatically for the worse in the tomorrows ahead if control of Congress shifts with the Nov. 7 election, putting extremist anti-gunners in positions of power.

That was the message hammered home early and often by Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), and Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association (NRA), who spoke to this year’s Gun Rights Policy Conference (GRPC) in Charlotte, NC.

While the turnout was lower than normal for the two-day event Sept. 23-24, hopes were high that next month’s mid-term elections will keep a pro-gun majority on Capitol Hill, but it depends on the outcomes of some very tight races.

“This election cycle,” Gottlieb acknowledged, “we’re going to have our work cut out for us.”

He cautioned the audience about “a malaise among our constituency” and noted that “a lot of extreme anti-gunners are running as pro-gun candidates.”

If the House shifts back to Democrat control, as many pundits are predicting, then California’s Nancy Pelosi would almost certainly become House Speaker and Michigan’s John Conyers would likely chair the House Judiciary Committee. If the Senate also shifts, then avowed anti-gunners Charles Schumer, Hillary Clinton and Edward Kennedy would also assume positions of power. Gottlieb called the whole lot “Congressional assault politicians.”

And playing on this year’s conference theme, “Victory in Sight,” LaPierre told the audience, “Victory is not in sight as long as they are in office.”

“The politicians and national media all think we’re going to lose,” LaPierre warned during his traditional special address.

SAF President Joseph Tartaro, in his annual look at “The Road Traveled,” told the audience that victory is in sight, “not so much because we meet here, but because we are united.”

He said the gun rights movement has “come a long way, baby” since the dark days of the 1968 Gun Control Act, and the national push for gun control laws in the 1970s and 1980s.

“When we started this conference,” Tartaro recalled, “we were not as strong as we are today.”

He said 21 years ago, when the conference was first held, only four states had right-to-carry laws: Washington, Georgia, Florida and Indiana. Today, there is some form of legal carry in 48 states, of which 40 have “shall-issue” statutes.

Tartaro said the two holdout states, Wisconsin and Illinois, must be changed politically in order to bring them in line with all the other states.

While activists work toward that goal,there is also satisfaction in the knowledge that there have been considerable advances in self-defense law around the country.

“The fact that we have seen so many changes in ‘Castle Doctrine’ is significant,” Tartaro noted.

The effect of all this progress, he suggested, has been the virtual disappearance of gun control rhetoric in the campaign.

“We’ve gotten to the point where we have shaken one of the major planks of the Democratic party,” he stated.

Noting that the core of the Democrat party is “extreme left,” Tartaro asserted that, “Their level of hate toward you and I … is so extreme” that gun control fanaticism has them associating firearms ownership with terrorism.

However, as a party, he said the Democrats have decided they want to get away from gun control, but that mindset will not last if they re-take control of Congress.

“If Democrats re-take control,” Tartaro warned, “there will still be anti-gunners.”