From http://web.philly.com/content/inquirer/2000/10/26/front_page/GUNS26.htm
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
In gun debate, advocates do candidates' talking
By Robert Zausner,, Josh Goldstein and Alletta Emeno INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
It's not an issue the major presidential candidates mention much. When they do, they speak quietly so as not to offend.
But as Election Day nears, a fervor is raging in the ranks of organizations that care most about guns and gun control.
Their billboards are popping up across the city and the nation. Their television ads are filling the airwaves in Pennsylvania and other key states. Handgun Control Inc., the nation's loudest advocate of tougher gun laws, has spent millions - but is getting far outspent by the National Rifle Association.
Between now and the Nov. 7 election, the NRA says it will spend most of its campaign fund - $15 million to $20 million - to send its message across America, a message that says electing Texas Gov. George W. Bush means no less than preserving the freedoms won in the American Revolution. "Vote Freedom First," the NRA's slogan, will be plastered across TV screens and red-white-and-blue billboards nationwide.
"This is the holy war," declared Charlton Heston, president of the NRA, at a rally last week in Hershey, Pa. The gun owners' lobby boasts 4.1 million members, and is legendary for its ability to get them to the polls.
Why, then, don't Bush and Vice President Gore, his Democratic rival, choose to say much about this issue?
"It is a very dangerous area for both sides," said Charles Cook, a nonpartisan political analyst in Washington. "Republicans are terrified of alienating all these soccer moms, and Democrats are afraid of antagonizing some gun owners who might otherwise vote Democratic."
That might help explain why, when the question arose during the debates this month, Bush sounded a bit like a gun-control advocate and Gore like an ally of gun owners.
"I believe that we ought to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them," Bush said, adding that he favored trigger locks for new guns and instant background checks on buyers at gun shows.
Gore said in part: "All of my proposals are focused on . . . gun safety. None of my proposals would have any effect on hunters or sportsmen or people who use rifles."
In fact, much of Bush's position on gun laws echoes the NRA's. He supports instant background checks - but not the three-day waiting period that federal officials say is needed for tracking down harder-to-get court records that are not computerized. Like the NRA, Bush says the emphasis should be on tougher enforcement of existing federal gun laws.
Gore proposes photo-ID licensing for buyers of handguns; he touts his votes in Congress for the Brady Bill and a ban on assault weapons. As president, Gore says, he would seek increased penalties for gun crimes and hire additional prosecutors.
All of which have a far more sober tone than the one taken by gun-rights and gun-control advocates.
"Raise hell!" the NRA's Heston implores in a videotape used at rallies where he exhorts members to help put Bush in the White House. At the end of the tape, Heston holds up a gun, looks into the camera, and says stonily, ". . .From my cold, dead hands."
For its part, Handgun Control has exploited the controversial videotape that the group obtained this summer, in which an NRA official, speaking about Bush, told supporters: "If we win, we'll have a president . . . where we work out of their office." Another ad has featured Martin Sheen, the actor who plays the president on West Wing.
But Handgun Control does not have nearly the army of politically active members that the NRA has. And the NRA plans to make sure its members vote, spending large sums on get-out-the-vote efforts as well as TV ads and billboards, especially in rural areas but also in cities.
Much of the NRA's money will be spent in Pennsylvania, which NRA spokesman Bill Powers describes as "one of a handful of very, very important states."
Nearly a third of the commonwealth's 12 million people live in rural areas, and the state has a million registered hunters, the most in the nation.
State Rep. Rick Geist (R., Blair) alluded to the rural strategy at a speech before several thousand NRA members. "James Carville," he said, referring to President Clinton's political consultant, "described Pennsylvania as Philadelphia in the east, Pittsburgh in the west and Alabama in the middle. Well, I'm proud to be from Alabama." The remark drew cheers.
"We don't have the numbers they do in the east," Geist added, "so we have to turn out."
"The heartland," said Wayne LaPierre, NRA executive vice president, "is going to decide the next president of the United States."
Both sides of the gun debate are aiming their efforts less at changing voters' minds and more at energizing supporters.
"The NRA doesn't care about people who want gun control. They are not trying to change their minds at this time," said Stuart Rothenberg, author of a Washington political newsletter. "Each side is trying to mobilize their base, and the way you mobilize your base is with the most inflammatory language."
In a way, the battle is lopsided. Handgun Control says it has spent about $2 million on pro-Gore efforts, and is tapped out.
"Part of it was strategy," said Nancy Hwa, spokeswoman for Handgun Control. "We knew as you get later and later in the season, [ads] start to pile up and we think we got people's attention early. We're pretty much done."
The NRA, by contrast, is just getting started with a multimillion-dollar ad blitz. The group is buying TV time in swing states such as Pennsylvania and Michigan (second in registered hunters); it is airing radio ads during Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions football games.
The gun lobby has outdonated the other side, too, in terms of campaign money. The NRA has given $725,000 to the Republican National Committee so far in this campaign and none to the Democrats. Handgun Control Inc. has not given to either party.
Licensed gun dealers, too, have helped the Bush campaign. In the primaries his campaign took in $66,299 from more than 90 gun dealers and family members, compared with $2,450 for Gore, according to federal records.
But the money is less important than voters who say they are motivated by this issue.
Richard Runkel, 47, made it to an NRA rally in Hershey last week with a broken foot and stood on crutches as thousands listened and applauded Heston.
Runkel said Gore and the Democrats were out to restrict citizens' right to bear arms. "I feel very threatened by that," he said. "That's what our country was founded on. I don't want to see that changed."
Marty Weinar, 51, of Moorestown, N.J., whose support of stricter gun laws took her to Washington last spring for the Million Mom March against gun violence, believes Bush would side with the NRA.
"I am very concerned," she said, "about what an armed nation we are becoming."
[/quote]
Robert Zausner's e-mail address is rzausner@phillynews.com
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
In gun debate, advocates do candidates' talking
By Robert Zausner,, Josh Goldstein and Alletta Emeno INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
It's not an issue the major presidential candidates mention much. When they do, they speak quietly so as not to offend.
But as Election Day nears, a fervor is raging in the ranks of organizations that care most about guns and gun control.
Their billboards are popping up across the city and the nation. Their television ads are filling the airwaves in Pennsylvania and other key states. Handgun Control Inc., the nation's loudest advocate of tougher gun laws, has spent millions - but is getting far outspent by the National Rifle Association.
Between now and the Nov. 7 election, the NRA says it will spend most of its campaign fund - $15 million to $20 million - to send its message across America, a message that says electing Texas Gov. George W. Bush means no less than preserving the freedoms won in the American Revolution. "Vote Freedom First," the NRA's slogan, will be plastered across TV screens and red-white-and-blue billboards nationwide.
"This is the holy war," declared Charlton Heston, president of the NRA, at a rally last week in Hershey, Pa. The gun owners' lobby boasts 4.1 million members, and is legendary for its ability to get them to the polls.
Why, then, don't Bush and Vice President Gore, his Democratic rival, choose to say much about this issue?
"It is a very dangerous area for both sides," said Charles Cook, a nonpartisan political analyst in Washington. "Republicans are terrified of alienating all these soccer moms, and Democrats are afraid of antagonizing some gun owners who might otherwise vote Democratic."
That might help explain why, when the question arose during the debates this month, Bush sounded a bit like a gun-control advocate and Gore like an ally of gun owners.
"I believe that we ought to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them," Bush said, adding that he favored trigger locks for new guns and instant background checks on buyers at gun shows.
Gore said in part: "All of my proposals are focused on . . . gun safety. None of my proposals would have any effect on hunters or sportsmen or people who use rifles."
In fact, much of Bush's position on gun laws echoes the NRA's. He supports instant background checks - but not the three-day waiting period that federal officials say is needed for tracking down harder-to-get court records that are not computerized. Like the NRA, Bush says the emphasis should be on tougher enforcement of existing federal gun laws.
Gore proposes photo-ID licensing for buyers of handguns; he touts his votes in Congress for the Brady Bill and a ban on assault weapons. As president, Gore says, he would seek increased penalties for gun crimes and hire additional prosecutors.
All of which have a far more sober tone than the one taken by gun-rights and gun-control advocates.
"Raise hell!" the NRA's Heston implores in a videotape used at rallies where he exhorts members to help put Bush in the White House. At the end of the tape, Heston holds up a gun, looks into the camera, and says stonily, ". . .From my cold, dead hands."
For its part, Handgun Control has exploited the controversial videotape that the group obtained this summer, in which an NRA official, speaking about Bush, told supporters: "If we win, we'll have a president . . . where we work out of their office." Another ad has featured Martin Sheen, the actor who plays the president on West Wing.
But Handgun Control does not have nearly the army of politically active members that the NRA has. And the NRA plans to make sure its members vote, spending large sums on get-out-the-vote efforts as well as TV ads and billboards, especially in rural areas but also in cities.
Much of the NRA's money will be spent in Pennsylvania, which NRA spokesman Bill Powers describes as "one of a handful of very, very important states."
Nearly a third of the commonwealth's 12 million people live in rural areas, and the state has a million registered hunters, the most in the nation.
State Rep. Rick Geist (R., Blair) alluded to the rural strategy at a speech before several thousand NRA members. "James Carville," he said, referring to President Clinton's political consultant, "described Pennsylvania as Philadelphia in the east, Pittsburgh in the west and Alabama in the middle. Well, I'm proud to be from Alabama." The remark drew cheers.
"We don't have the numbers they do in the east," Geist added, "so we have to turn out."
"The heartland," said Wayne LaPierre, NRA executive vice president, "is going to decide the next president of the United States."
Both sides of the gun debate are aiming their efforts less at changing voters' minds and more at energizing supporters.
"The NRA doesn't care about people who want gun control. They are not trying to change their minds at this time," said Stuart Rothenberg, author of a Washington political newsletter. "Each side is trying to mobilize their base, and the way you mobilize your base is with the most inflammatory language."
In a way, the battle is lopsided. Handgun Control says it has spent about $2 million on pro-Gore efforts, and is tapped out.
"Part of it was strategy," said Nancy Hwa, spokeswoman for Handgun Control. "We knew as you get later and later in the season, [ads] start to pile up and we think we got people's attention early. We're pretty much done."
The NRA, by contrast, is just getting started with a multimillion-dollar ad blitz. The group is buying TV time in swing states such as Pennsylvania and Michigan (second in registered hunters); it is airing radio ads during Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions football games.
The gun lobby has outdonated the other side, too, in terms of campaign money. The NRA has given $725,000 to the Republican National Committee so far in this campaign and none to the Democrats. Handgun Control Inc. has not given to either party.
Licensed gun dealers, too, have helped the Bush campaign. In the primaries his campaign took in $66,299 from more than 90 gun dealers and family members, compared with $2,450 for Gore, according to federal records.
But the money is less important than voters who say they are motivated by this issue.
Richard Runkel, 47, made it to an NRA rally in Hershey last week with a broken foot and stood on crutches as thousands listened and applauded Heston.
Runkel said Gore and the Democrats were out to restrict citizens' right to bear arms. "I feel very threatened by that," he said. "That's what our country was founded on. I don't want to see that changed."
Marty Weinar, 51, of Moorestown, N.J., whose support of stricter gun laws took her to Washington last spring for the Million Mom March against gun violence, believes Bush would side with the NRA.
"I am very concerned," she said, "about what an armed nation we are becoming."
[/quote]
Robert Zausner's e-mail address is rzausner@phillynews.com