More Whining from AHSA

The astro-turf gun group American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA) continues its attempts to be relevant. Last year, they paid people to stand out in front of the NRA Annual Meeting and Exhibits to hand out flyers against NRA. This year in Louisville, they apparently decided it was cheaper to just run an ad in a local Louisville newspaper. In today's edition of the Lexington Hearld Leader, Hearld columnist Tom Eblen picks up the talking points fed to him by ASHA's Bob Ricker (you know - the lobbyist who will sell himself to what ever group will pay him).

Ricker told Eblen that AHSA believes the vast majority of sportsmen are not represented by NRA because of their support for Republican candidates. Seems that the fact that John McCain, who has a lengthy pro-gun voting record despite those instances where he parted company with gun owners and the NRA (background checks on private sales at gun shows and McCain/Feingold), was invited to speak to the members in Louisville, and that Obama (who has been endorsed by ASHA) was not, is proof that sportsmen (i.e. hunters) are not represented by NRA.

What Ricker did not tell Eblin and Eblin apparently failed to look up on his own, is that NRA has been endorsing Democrats. In September, Harold Ford, Bill Richardson, and John Dingell were invited to speak at the Celebration of American Values Forum. And in Louisville, Democrat Congressman and newly elected NRA Board Member Dan Boran spoke during the Friday forum as well as the Kentucky Democratic Lt. Governor (the Democratic Governor of Kentucky had been invited but apparently had a scheduling conflict at the last minute).

I talked to a lot of people at the Annual Meeting, including hunters, and I did not get the sense they felt under represented by the NRA. Ricker claims ASHA has 25,000 paying members. If any of those people are people that care about hunting, they might like to know that the candidate of choice for ASHA, Barrack Obama, voted for a bill (SB1195) that would have banned many popular hunting shotguns and muzzleloading rifles. That's how ASHA represents hunters and sportsmen.

Hat tip to Snowflakes in Hell