NRA gets new hope from Bush

NRA gets new hope from Bush

By Mike Miller

KANSAS CITY, United States (Reuters): The National Rifle Association store at the group's 130th annual convention still sold caps that said "My president is Charlton Heston" -- a holdover from the bad old days of Bill Clinton.

But it was clear that the NRA thinks it now has a friend in George W. Bush.

A full-page ad in the convention program featured a color photograph of the White House with the words "The new tenant really supports the Second Amendment. Rejoice!" followed by a picture of a .22-caliber rifle. The U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment guarantees "the right of the people to keep and bear arms."

The NRA's clout appears to be at a new high. Membership swelled to a record 4.3 million in 2000 from 3 million a year earlier, as the gun owners' group sounded the alarm about the threat they said an Al Gore presidency would pose to the right to own firearms.

At the convention banquet in Kansas City on Saturday night, U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton praised NRA members for their help in last year's vote.

"Many of you helped President Bush win the election," Norton said to loud applause in a banquet speech at the NRA's 130th annual convention. "We thank you."

Norton's appearance at the convention marked the first time an administration official had addressed the NRA banquet since Elizabeth Dole represented the Reagan administration in 1982. Seated with Norton at the head table was Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, who became a conservative hero for her role in securing Bush's victory in that state's disputed election.

Gun-control advocates have criticized links between the tax- exempt NRA and the Republican party. Four Republican members of Congress -- three representatives and one senator -- sit on the NRA's 76-member board of directors, as do two former Democratic congressmen.

In last year's election campaign, Democrats pounced on a report that NRA First Vice President Kayne Robinson boasted in a private meeting that a Bush victory would mean "we'll have a president where we work out of their office."

Former President George Bush, the father of the incumbent, publicly split with the NRA in 1995, surrendering his life membership after NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre in a fund-raising letter called government agents "jackbooted thugs." Many political analysts think Bush failed to win reelection in 1992 in part because he had alienated conservatives within his own party.

The younger Bush seems determined not to make that mistake. His newly announced "Project Safe Neighborhoods," aimed at reducing gun violence by hiring more prosecutors, hews closely to the NRA's view.

Gun-control advocates say the majority of firearm deaths are caused by accidents and suicide, and they call for limiting access to weapons -- anathema to the NRA where "law-abiding citizens" are concerned.

The NRA spends about a fourth of its $200 million annual budget on campaign contributions and lobbying, according to a spokesman.

James Jay Baker, head of the NRA's lobbying arm, detailed some of the group's current efforts, such as a bill to immunize gun manufacturers from lawsuits filed by local governments.

"The firearms industry is not a cash-rich industry and is under a lot of stress from the litigation," Baker said in an interview at the convention.

Another NRA concern is campaign-finance reform, particularly a bill sponsored by Arizona Republican John McCain that would restrict political advertising in the days running up to an election, limiting the ability of groups like the NRA to make last-minute appeals.

"We think that's unconstitutional," Baker said, citing the First Amendment right to free speech.

The NRA also opposes a bill sponsored by McCain and Connecticut Democrat Joseph Lieberman that aims to tighten background checks on would-be firearms purchasers at the 4,000 gun shows held each year in America. The gun owners' group backs a different bill with swifter checks.

McCain, who spent five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, poses a special problem for the NRA, whose members generally revere military heroes. For now, NRA leaders profess bewilderment.

"I don't know what's happening to John McCain," LaPierre told the members' meeting on Saturday.