The bullet and the ballot: US gun owners eye election choices

The bullet and the ballot: US gun owners eye election choices
Date: Aug 8, 2007 7:13 PM
Surprising story, being from France. Some photos at the site.
"Bowling land skittles" are bowling pins.


http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/administration/afp-news.html?id=070807075246.v5ij0u24&cat=null


07/08/07 08h53 GMT+1
AFP News brief
The bullet and the ballot: US gun owners eye election choices
by James Hossack


"That's pretty damn cool," shouts Scott Major, holding his earplugs as a 10-second burst of automatic gunfire rips through an otherwise tranquil forest clearing in New Hampshire.

Around him, spent shell casings litter the ground and gun enthusiasts with an eye for the kind of military hardware normally reserved for private armies slowly obliterate cutouts of rabbits and retired bowling lane skittles.

The machinegun fundraiser for the New Hampshire Republican Party on Sunday was an opportunity to let off a little steam and tell candidates in next year's US presidential election that for many Americans, gun rights matter.

"One reason we're putting this on is to say to the politicians 'come down here and watch. There's no crazy people here. Guns can be fun'," says Bob Shaunessy, a 69-year-old Vietnam War veteran and vintage firearm collector.

"Some people like baseball. Some people like football. It's just another activity," he adds, a sidearm strapped to his waist.

The debate over gun ownership in the United States is an emotive and divisive one, but the issue has so far failed to be a major factor in an early election campaign being fought largely over foreign policy and Iraq.

But all that could change in the run up to the primary season starting early next year, when parties chose their candidates. New Hampshire is traditionally one of the first states to vote, giving it an influential voice.

For many gun owners, the second amendment to the US constitution provides the legal bedrock for the right to bear arms.

"We're supporting the second amendment and showing the second amendment is alive and well," said Jerry Thibodeau, chairman of the Manchester Republican Committee co-hosting Sunday's shoot, attended by some 500 people.
The worst case scenario for gun owners after the November 2008 presidential election would be for Democrat frontrunner Hillary Clinton to take office, he said. "It won't be pretty."

The wife of former president Bill Clinton, who clamped down on gun ownership during his term in office, has few friends at the Pelham Fish and Game Club.

New Hampshire, a northeastern state with the motto "Live Free or Die," has a libertarian reputation and some of the most liberal gun laws in the country.

And while across the United States more than 20 people are killed by guns every day, New Hampshire has one of the lowest murder rates in the country -- something gun owners say proves that firearms actually reduce gun crime.

Many advocates of tighter gun control seized on April's shooting rampage in a Virginia university as evidence that gun laws need to be tightened, but for gun rights activists, the killings only showed the current rules are too tight.

"Three or four of the Virginia Tech victims had gun licenses but were told they couldn't carry guns on campus," Shaunessy says. "Just one of those guys could have stood up to that guy," he adds.

Salesman Scott Major offers a variation on the National Rifle Association's bumper sticker slogan that "Guns don't kill people. People kill people." The association is one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington.

Speaking after firing off several rounds from a US military style M60 -- an experience he described simply as "awesome" -- Major, 31, said gun ownership would be a big issue for him in next year's election.

But Dave Ridley, a decorator from Manchester canvassing for a presidential run by Ron Paul, a Texas congressman he described as a "maverick Republican and a constitutionalist," said gun rights were not just about the constitution.

"It is a defense against criminals and foreign invasion or a Nazi-type government taking control," he said. He regularly wears his Glock 9mm handgun while walking around town and says he is rarely challenged by police.

Like many other gun owners, he has no time for Arizona Senator John McCain and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, the current Republican favorites.

"They're there to get elected and stay elected. Gun rights are only an issue when they're popular," he said.
For John Errico, president of Pelham Fish and Game Club, Sunday's shoot was not about politics but rather family. "I bring all my grandchildren," he says. "This is a sport. It's in the Olympics," he adds.

Thomas Quinn bought his two sons to the range to fire a US military style M16, a Kalashnikov AK47 and an Uzi -- once favored by Israeli special forces.

"We're here to expand the boys' horizons," he says. "It's a little reward." His 10-year old James preferred the M16. "It wasn't really hard on the shoulder." His big brother, Tommy, 12, liked the Uzi.

Another shooter, 16-year-old schoolgirl Sarah Castelot, had never even fired a gun before trying her hand at the M16. "It was cool. It was interesting. I'd try it again but I'd make my way up to it. I need more practice," she says.

Although not old enough to vote in next year's election, she knows where she stands on the issue. "I think guns are good. We have the right to guns."

She was selling T-shirts featuring two tick boxes next to the words "Gun owner" and "Victim." Beneath, it read simply: "Choose one."


The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security !