cuchulainn
Member
from the Capital Times (Madison Wisc.)
http://www.madison.com/captimes/opinion/editorial/48147.php
http://www.madison.com/captimes/opinion/editorial/48147.php
Editorial: NRA hires a partisan
An editorial
May 3, 2003
Gun owners have every right to argue for their interpretation of the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution. And their largest advocacy organization, the National Rifle Association, certainly takes full advantage of that right.
But, in replacing actor Charlton Heston as the group's president with Republican Party operative Kayne Robinson, the NRA is straining its claim to be a nonpartisan organization.
Robinson is a former Iowa Republican Party chairman who recently served as the NRA's first vice president. In that capacity, he caused a major stir during the 2000 presidential campaign by claiming that, if George W. Bush won, "we'll have a president where we work out of their office."
Robinson's claim was troubling not merely because it suggested that Bush planned to collude inappropriately with a special interest group, but also because it suggested that the NRA was no longer a legitimate advocate for its members. Rather, in Robinson's twisted political world, the NRA was little more than a subsidiary of a Republican campaign and, by extension, the Republican Party.
That may be what Robinson, a veteran Republican Party leader, wants. But it is not the result that NRA members should seek. If the NRA is just another cog in the Republican political machine, then the legitimate interests of gun owners will be sacrificed in the pursuit of political points.
The abortion debate has been increasingly complicated by the inaccurate assumption that all Democrats are pro-choice and that all Republicans are anti-choice. Unlike in Britain and Canada, where abortion is a matter of conscience, it has in America become a matter of perceived political necessity - as was evidenced when former Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, R-Brookfield, changed his position on the issue in an obvious move to position himself for a statewide race.
The debate over gun control, while increasingly partisan, has been different. Suburban Republicans have often sided with gun control advocates. Rural Democrats have often lined up with gun control foes. In Wisconsin, Democratic U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold and U.S. Rep. David Obey, D-Wausau, have long been defenders of 2nd Amendment rights, as have a number of Democratic legislators. On the national scene, groups such as Handgun Control USA have historically been led by Americans with Republican roots.
Putting a partisan Republican like Robinson at the head of the NRA will make it harder to maintain bipartisanship on both sides of the gun debate. And that's not just bad for the two sides of that debate; it's bad for the quality of the American discourse.
Published: 6:50 AM 5/03/03
Copyright 2002 The Capital Times