STANDING GUARD
WAYNE LAPIERRE, NRA Executive Vice President
"Like flat-earth fanatics, Second Amendment Fanatics just don`t get it � The NRA`s Second Amendment is an empty cereal box in the market place of ideas."
That`s New York U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer`s description of you and me and our precious Right to Keep and Bear Arms. This critical election season, he`s the power broker New York Magazine toasted as, "The man orchestrating the Senate takeover."
But we know Chuck Schumer as the gun-ban ringmaster--always ready to attack everything we stand for.
For millions of Americans who breathe the air of Second Amendment freedom that we`ve fought so hard to secure, Schumer`s Senate takeover would spell disaster.
Only by voting can we stop the Schumer-Emanuel gun-ban machine from taking power and destroying the Second Amendment we`ve fought so long and so hard to protect.
Schumer brags about authoring all the anti-gun legislation signed into law by Bill Clinton. You remember his boast: "We`re going to hammer guns on the anvil of a relentless legislative strategy. We`re going to beat guns into submission." Thanks to your support and hard work, for the past six years we`ve hammered on Schumer and his anti-gun pals in Congress. But all we`ve been able to accomplish--from rolling back the Clinton legacy to erecting a firewall to protect our rights from the U.N. gun haters--is at risk if Schumer gets his way in the November elections.
Schumer, along with his gun ban axis--the likes of Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Dianne Feinstein and Frank Lautenberg--forever defined their ultimate threat to the nation`s gun owners by voting against NRA-backed legislation to prohibit disarming of ordinary Americans during times of emergency.
Think about what the Senate gun-ban crowd`s vote really meant. They squarely supported the house-to-house searches of neighborhoods and the firearm confiscations that left the good people of New Orleans defenseless against free-ranging criminal predators.
When I announced our intention to seek sweeping protections for innocent law-abiding Americans, Schumer told ABC News: "This shows the NRA at its worst, at its most extreme."
Now, pulling all of the political and funding strings as head of his party`s Senatorial Campaign Committee, we have the man who labels our beliefs as "extreme." In that job, Schumer personally controls the campaign staff of individual candidates. If these candidates are successful, they will be beholden to one man, one power. Chuck Schumer.
Unlike the Moveon.org extremists and the Michael Moore left wing of his party, Schumer is a political pragmatist. To win the election this November, he is willing to play the chameleon and change his color to take control of the U.S. Senate.
To that end, New York Magazine details the lengths to which Schumer--the ultimate enemy of the Second Amendment--stretched to handpick candidates. Schumer may have angered some gun-ban advocates by selecting pro-gun candidates, but as the magazine concluded, "�that was exactly the point. By p--ing off the party`s most loyal supporters, Schumer sent a message that he was serious about winning � ." It quoted Schumer saying, "Hey, we have to win! If we had 58 seats, maybe you wouldn`t do this, but our back is against the wall."
Among Schumer`s strategic goals in controlling the Senate is an iron grip over the federal judiciary. He is the prime opponent of President Bush`s federal court nominees, saying that Ted Kennedy "has basically said to me, �You take the lead.`" Schumer has redefined criteria to include "ideology" as the prime qualification of lifetime federal judicial nominees.
Clearly, if he succeeds in getting his dream Senate, Schumer will control the legislative agenda. Schumer`s efforts are equally matched by his House campaign committee counterpart and gun-ban ally, Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel, who served as Bill Clinton`s White House gun control czar. With California`s Nancy Pelosi as speaker, and Michigan`s John Conyers as head of the all-powerful Judiciary Committee, the gun banners would hold all the power.
NRA members are the key to stopping Schumer`s dream Senate and Emanuel`s House takeovers from becoming reality. But to do so, we must alert our fellow gun owners to the danger we face this November 7. We must get our friends and neighbors to the polls. Next month, NRA-ILA will publish the NRA Political Victory Fund political preference charts. Study them, and above all, vote. Only we can stop the Schumer-Emanuel gun-ban machine from taking power and destroying the Second Amendment we`ve fought so long and so hard to protect.
