Before LaPierre delivered his remarks, the conference was underway with two of the most important segments of the program, panels on federal and state affairs.
Chuck Cunningham, director of federal affairs for the NRA’s Institute for
Legislative Action, told the audience, “We have a hostile administration, no doubt about that.” However, he stressed that gunowners have not lost any political ground under the Obama administration, and have even gained some, including national parks carry.
He said mayors belonging to the anti-gun Mayors Against Illegal Guns organization have been lobbied by their constituents, and 80 have stepped down since the group was formed. In addition, he said NRA had found several people on the list of MAIG members who are not even mayors, or are former mayors.
“Eight of them had retired,” he said, “five of them had been convicted of crimes and 10 are either under investigation, arrested or indicted.”
Cunningham recalled that 65 Democrat House members had signed a letter in March to Attorney General Eric Holder, telling him to back off from discussing a possible renewal of the ban on semi-automatic rifles.NRA is also backing legislation to reform the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). A leading co-sponsor, Cunningham said, is Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, a leading liberal Democrat.
Cunningham predicted that the 2010 congressional elections will be a watershed, an indication that gunowners could play a critical role in how those elections turn out.
Following Cunningham to the podium was Jake McGuigan, director of governmental affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). He told the standing-room-only audience that the firearms industry is currently wrestling with a move to make excise tax payments easier for manufacturers to accomplish. Currently, they must pay those taxes on a bi-weekly basis, leaving some manufacturers in a position of having to pay the tax before they are even paid for their products by wholesalers and retailers.
There are bills in the House and Senate to address this issue, S-632 and HR-8510.
Micro-stamping is another hot button issue, he continued. This is a patented sole-source technology that is being marketed by the inventor, but McGuigan said it does not work.
“I don’t have to tell you guys how easily it can be defeated by criminals,” he observed.
He said NSSF supports more federal study of the technology, which has been proposed by the National Research Council, to determine whether micro-stamping can be durable to meet varying conditions.
The organization is also “taking a proactive approach” to promoting modern sporting rifles, which anti-gunners have long mislabeled as “assault rifles.” McGuigan said AR-15-type rifles are growing in popularity, and that despite the fact that they look like military firearms, they function “pretty much like any other traditional (semi-automatic) hunting rifle.”
He said NSSF has launched a media campaign to correct widespread misinformation about AR-15 rifles.
More information is available at the group’s website, nssf.org/msr.
Disenchantment
CCRKBA Public Affairs Director John Snyder took the microphone to remind the audience that massive public demonstrations—although they have been primarily aimed at the health care controversy and government spending—many of those participating in the “tea parties” have been sending a pro-gun message.
“There is a manifest disenchantment with Washington, DC,” he said.
Snyder recalled that within days of the capitol demonstration, an amendment allowing firearms to be carried aboard Amtrak in luggage was passed by the Senate 68-30.
“This serves to illustrate what the American people can accomplish,” he observed.
But the veteran lobbyist cautioned that “we are faced with a real encumbrance in Washington.” The Obama Administration is staffed by devoted anti-gunners, who “make the Clinton administration look good,” he said.
“There’s one thing about this gang,” Snyder noted. “They don’t listen to the public.”
He suggested that there is an arrogance loose in the administration and the Congress under House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a liberal California Democrat. He urged activists to stand up for their rights and for freedom.
Gun Owners of America was represented by John Velleco, the group’s legislative director. He opened by discussing a battle that gunowners are “losing badly,” that of presidential nominations.
“It is important to remember that this president, with the help of the Senate, has been populating the highest levels of the bureaucracy with real anti-gun zealots.”
To that list he named Hillary Rodham Clinton, Eric Holder, regulatory “czar” Cass Sunstein and Dr. David Michaels, who has been nominated to run the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. He also added freshman associate Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, whom he singled out for criticism because, during the Senate confirmation hearings, she could not even answer whether she believed people have a fundamental right of self-defense.
“Her answer was that that’s ‘sort of an abstract question’,” he recalled. “It’s hard to imagine a less abstract question, whether I have a right to defend my life.”
Velleco roused the audience by contending that “the idea that citizens need a permit or permission slip to exercise a constitutional right is something of a contradiction.”
He predicted that the administration and Congress will move against gun shows, to close what he called the “mythical gun show loophole.” He said requiring background checks on all gun show firearms transactions, including private transfers, would be “an unprecedented and dangerous power grab.” If such legislation is passed, the next step would be to claim that a private transaction anywhere is “the next loophole.”
“When Congress talks about loopholes,” Velleco warned, “they usually are referring to your freedom.”
Wrapping up the Federal Affairs panel, Ralph Walker, first vice president and legislative director for the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association (NMLRA), reminded the audience that blackpowder is an explosive. This puts his organization’s members under double scrutiny by the ATF, because they shoot firearms and use an explosive as their propellant.
“Alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives should be sold at the country store, not regulated by the feds,” he said.
Walker said NMLRA consists of three types of shooters, those who build their own custom rifles, those who collect vintage blackpowder guns and those who are target shooters and hunters.
He took a swipe at proposed micro-stamping legislation, noting that “muzzleloaders don’t have firing pins,” and wondering “what good is micro-stamping on a patched round ball?” The remark drew guffaws from the gun-savvy audience.
Walker recalled the words of the late Congressman Tip O’Neill, who once observed that “all politics is local.”
“We keep hearing ‘throw the bums out,’ but then say ‘everybody but my guy’,” he said.
He warned about legislation that would give the attorney general authority to put people on a “homeland security watch list” if they are suspected of becoming involved in domestic terrorism. This would preclude someone from being able to buy firearms.
“Do you really want Eric Holder telling you (that) you can’t buy a firearm,” he asked.