Earlier this week, over 670 hunting and fishing organizations – including my organization, the American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA) – signed a letter urging Congress to take strong action on global warming.
The letter speaks of "our moral responsibility to confront climate change in order to protect our outdoor heritage and our children’s future."
Our hunting heritage is in danger. But you wouldn’t know that from the NRA.
Also, this week, in what was supposed to be a show of political muscle, 300 members of Congress and V.P. Dick Cheney, signed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court about the DC gun ban case. The NRA used its muscle to get all those names on the brief.
Support for the Second Amendment isn’t the issue. Hunters and shooters believe in the individual right to own guns. As I wrote last week, I was proud to submit AHSA’s own amicus brief to the Supreme Court and was honored to be joined by11 influential retired military leaders.
But every time I see the NRA leadership put on a display of their alleged political power, I think, just once, just once, I’d like to see them use their muscle to help hunters and shooters. For example, despite the dangers posed by climate change to hunters (and hunters are among those who notice the changes every year), there is no signature from the NRA leadership on the climate change letter. They are afraid to alienate or stand up to Dick Cheney and George Bush – not even for the sake of their own members.
It is especially ironic that Dick Cheney purports to defend gun owners. He’s been vice president for almost eight years now. And I’ll issue this challenge to the NRA: Name one thing Bush and Cheney have done for hunters. You can’t. They haven’t. They don’t have to.
As the letter signed by those 670 hunting and fishing group shows, we are extremely worried about the state of the environment. David Crockett said it best, "Sportsmen want America to lead on global warming solutions."
Again, where’s the NRA with all its great political connections? Weren’t they going to be working out of the Oval Office? Bottom line is they don’t care. The NRA leaders place more value on their political clout than the needs of rank and file gunowners.
The group that is supposed to represent hunters and shooters is far too busy trying to stop common sense measures that would protect kids and keep guns out of the hands of criminals and terrorists. But, they leave the big issues – the issues hunters care about – alone.
There are millions of progressive hunters and shooters. The NRA is not their voice. AHSA is. And we are going to go head to head with the NRA to make sure hunters and shooters vote their interests – not the NRA’s Republican interests.
The hunter and shooter vote is critical in battleground states across the south, midwest and the mountain west. We cannot let the NRA leadership dictate who wins anymore.