Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Politicians Reaffirm Support for Gun Owners

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By James O'Toole

In a parade of speeches before thousands of firearms enthusiasts, National Rifle Association officials and allies summoned their members to the ramparts of a battle they seemingly have already won.

While polling and legislative action across the country suggest that the political clout of gun control advocates has reached a modern nadir, speakers at the national convention of the NRA portrayed themselves as besieged patriots under continuing assault from media and liberal elites.

"We will never back away from our resolve to defend all law-abiding gun owners in this country," said Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's CEO and executive vice president, during a speech in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. "If the media doesn't like it, I know where they can go. They can go straight to Concord bridge and take a flying leap."

While the Obama administration, to the disappointment of some of its liberal allies, has not pressed any gun control initiatives, and President Barack Obama, even before a recent landmark Supreme Court case, had repeatedly said he believed Second Amendment right to bear arms is an individual right, the administration was the target of sustained criticism at the NRA's annual gathering.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich described the Democratic White House as "the most consistently anti-gun and anti-Second Amendment administration that we have ever seen."

Mr. Gingrich was one of several potential Republican candidates for president who spoke to the NRA audience either in person or in recorded messages. Citing "good news and bad news" in the current debate on firearms issues, he acknowledged the strength of pro-gun advocates in Congress and the states, but he warned against complacency.

"Virtually no left-wing politician is left who thinks he can pass legislation that affects the right to bear arms," he said. But he sounded an alarm against "a stealth strategy in which they combine anti-gun judges with anti-gun international treaties [in an attempt] to strip us of our rights by judicial fiat."

Former Sen. Rick Santorum, who had renewed his criticisms of the administration's foreign policy in a Washington speech the previous day, turned to the domestic front as he characterized the Democratic administration as a fundamental departure from the nation's tradition.

Referring to a recent presidential address on budget issues, the former senator paraphrased Mr. Obama in referring to the enactment of programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and unemployment insurance.

Mr. Santorum said that the president had said, " 'America was a better country because of those programs. ... I'll go one step further; America was not a great country until those programs.' "

"Mr. President, you don't understand America if you believe that," Mr. Santorum said.

The Republican somewhat misstated the president's remarks. According to a transcript of his speech at George Washington University, his actual words were, "We're a better country because of these commitments. I'll go further. We would not be a great country without those commitments."

Mr. Santorum said the NRA's defense of Second Amendment rights should be a model for a defense of Constitutional rights he sees threatened by an overreaching federal government.

"Now the battle has broadened; we must fight threats to freedom on a different front," he said as he called the 2012 presidential campaign "the most important election in the history of our country."

Other potential GOP presidential candidates who spoke to the gathering were Herman Cain, businessman and talk show host; and, by video messages, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota.

"We have an opportunity to repeal the current president and elect a constitutional conservative," she said. "That's what we have to do to see that our Second Amendment rights survive."

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., was the highest profile Democrat who spoke to the gathering, and he urged the group to work toward a bipartisan approach to firearms issues.

"If only one political party carries the responsibility for a Second Amendment agenda, this amendment will be in jeopardy," he said. "We need to broaden out and bring everybody together ... we have to work together."

Mr. Manchin described himself as a lifelong hunter and NRA member. He was introduced with a replay of a campaign commercial in which he fired a rifle bullet through a copy of the cap-and-trade energy bill that passed the House but never reached a vote in the Senate.

Mr. Manchin also sought common cause with his audience as he reiterated his opposition to the administration's nominee to head the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, Andrew Traver, who is also firmly opposed by the NRA. Rep. Jason Altmire, D-McCandless, who narrowly dodged defeat in last year's election, spoke to the group, boasting of his 100 percent NRA legislative rating and to victories for gun rights advocates on issues including the right to carry weapons in national parks.

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