The 11th hour

November 3, 6:29 AMGun Rights ExaminerDavid Codrea

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This is it. Tomorrow will be the most crucial national election affecting gun rights I've ever seen, and I was born in the Truman administration.

A concerted effort has been targeted at sport shooters and union members concerning Barack Obama's purported support of the Second Amendment. Don't fall for it. It is a deception.

Obama is a career gungrabber. He has stated he wants to ban semiautomatic rifles. He has stated he supports a national ban on concealed carry. He has advocated "banning the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns..." He advocates different application of the Bill of Rights based on where you live. And despite what he says after the decision on the historic Heller case, he'd previously deemed the DC gun ban constitutional.

If you think your gun won't be affected, just wait. When it suits their political purposes, the gun haters will characterize your scoped hunting rifle as a sniper weapon. The gun haters will characterize common hunting rounds as "armor piercing ammo" and "cop killers," that can penetrate an officer's vest or can go through a car door. As if any hunting round fired from a rifle won't.

It's unfortunate the Republicans fielded such a luke-warm candidate as far as gun rights are concerned. The enthusiasm a pro-RKBA (right to keep and bear arms) candidate could have generated has just not been present in the McCain campaign, although Sarah Palin helped some. At best, the gun owners I talk to who are voting for him will do so because they feel they have to, not because they're particularly enamored of the guy. No fire in the belly translates into people not helping with campaigns, people not donating, people who even question whether they should vote at all, and people intent on teaching the GOP a lesson or voting their principles, meaning for Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party or recent Libertarian convert Bob Barr.

I'm not going to presume to tell you what to do. My public recommendation is to vote your informed conscience, meaning be aware that each of these choices carries a real cost along with your perceived benefit. The reality is, if McCain loses, Obama will win. That's not to say it will be anyone's "fault" except Obama voters, and in a real sense, the GOP, for giving us a candidate who has not inspired enthusiasm in us.

I wrote in a recent column about voter resources available to Ohio gun owners. I'll repeat them here, in the hopes that, if you have not consulted them yet, you'll at least do so before voting tomorrow. Again, these are but guides. In a system of ostensible self government, it's incumbent on us as responsible citizens to do the research ourselves to know where the candidates we cede power to stand.

Here they are:

Ohioans for Concealed Carry

Buckeye Firearms Association

National Rifle Association

Gun Owners of America: Congressional and Presidential

Tomorrow we shall see. My recommendation until then is to get on the phone and your keyboard, and let your gun owner friends know how important Tuesday will be to all gun owners. Then make your best case for what they should do about it.

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Gun Talk Recap

The program went well, a lot of fun, but the hour sure passed quickly. Tom Gresham, as always, was a gracious host, easy to talk to, and a very knowledgeable guy, which is why he's who he is in the 2A world. We focused mostly on the Cooper Firearms fiasco and talked a bit about Sen. Obama. I told Tom I agree with the senator on one key point: He will not take my guns.

You can listen to the interview here.

And one final note--I need to say "Sorry" to Aaron Zelman of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. I told him I'd try to get a plug in during the show for his new video "2A Today for the USA," and had even gone so far as to stick a Post-It note under my monitor so I wouldn't forget. But the chance to work it into the conversation just did not present itself.