K-Romulus
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Hoo, boy! Time for another one of "those" threads . . .
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/14856809.htm
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/14856809.htm
Posted on Tue, Jun. 20, 2006
Red, Blue - and Purple
A closer look at America's political and cultural divide.
Where Democrats proudly own guns
In Montana, less of a partisan issue.
By Paul Nussbaum
Inquirer Staff Writer
MISSOULA, Mont. - Gov. Brian Schweitzer won't say exactly how many guns he owns, other than it's "more than I need, but less than I want."
An unabashed shooter, hunter and gun-fancier in a state deeply in touch with its Old West heritage, Schweitzer is a member of the National Rifle Association and was happy to receive the NRA's endorsement for governor in 2004.
He is also a Democrat.
Like many Democrats, especially those beyond the nation's big cities and urban coasts, Schweitzer doesn't see gun ownership as a partisan issue.
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"Republicans try to make the case that 'Democrats will take your guns away.' I say, 'Yeah, Democrats like Giuliani, Pataki and Schwarzenegger,' " Schweitzer said, naming prominent Republicans from New York and California.
While leaders in cities such as Philadelphia, faced with a rising number of gun-related slayings and injuries, call for tougher gun laws, their counterparts in more rural states insist that criminals, not guns, are the problem.
As Democrats try to win control of Congress this year and the White House in 2008, the divide over guns may make their task that much tougher. For common ground in the gun debate is often found not in political affiliation, but in region, gender, or proximity to a large city.
A Pew Research Center survey of 1,500 adults in 2004 asked Americans which they thought was more important - "to protect the right of Americans to own guns, or to control gun ownership?"
In the Northeast, 70 percent of the respondents said it was more important to control gun ownership, while 26 percent said it was more important to protect the right of Americans to own guns. In all other regions of the country, majorities also said controlling guns was paramount, but by much smaller margins (the Midwest, 54 percent; the South, 53 percent, and the West, 59 percent).
And a Gallup Poll survey of 1,012 people in October found gun ownership lowest in the East, where 31 percent of respondents said they or someone in their household owned a gun. In the South and the Midwest, the figure was 47 percent; in the West, it was 38 percent.
Republicans are more likely to have a gun in the house: The Gallup survey found that 57 percent of Republicans said they or someone in their household owned a gun, compared with 33 percent of Democrats and 37 percent of independents.
Only 13 percent of women said they owned guns, while 47 percent of men did.
In a state such as Montana, the gun issue helps color the state red in presidential elections even as voters elect Democrats to state and local offices. In 2004, Montanans voted for President Bush by a ratio of 59 percent to 39 percent, while putting Democrats in control of the governor's mansion and both houses of the Legislature. (In the last 50 years, the only Democratic presidential candidates to carry the state were Bill Clinton in 1992 and Lyndon Johnson in 1964.)
The state's senior U.S. senator, Max Baucus, is a Democrat, and the Republican junior senator, Conrad Burns, is considered vulnerable in his reelection bid this year, partly because of ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. This month, State Senate President Jon Tester won the Democratic nomination to oppose Burns in November.
Montana voters regularly exhibit an independent streak laced with a suspicion of government intrusion. In 2004, they voted to approve a "right to hunt" constitutional amendment (with 81 percent support) at the same time that they approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes (62 percent) and a ban on cyanide in mining (58 percent).
A Democratic presidential candidate with hopes of carrying Montana would have to tap into that independence and speak frankly to the gun issue, Schweitzer said.
"I'd tell him to tell people he respects their Second Amendment rights and maybe talk a little about his own experiences with guns," Schweitzer said. "And it might not be a bad idea to go out to a gravel pit and set up some beer cans and shoot at 'em."
Craig Wilson, a political science professor at Montana State University-Billings who conducts regular polling on political issues, said that although state residents were relatively pro-gun, the image of Montanans as "redneck rebels with a gun in the back of every pickup is not a true picture."
He said the NRA had "the ability to mobilize their owners... . Gun owners win on intensity.
"That's why politicians in Montana are extremely skittish about crossing swords with the NRA, and that's why it's a coveted endorsement," he said.
Gary Marbut, president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, a political action group for gun owners, agreed that gun owners here were "life-and-death serious" about preventing gun restrictions, and "when you're running a campaign, the intensity of your followers is more important than the number of your followers."
Marbut has run unsuccessfully for the Legislature both as a Republican and a Democrat.
"I don't care what party a person is as long as they're agreeable to our principles," Marbut said. "But we do tend to find more friends among Republicans and the Constitution Party and Libertarians than we do among Democrats and the Green Party."
Montana got an F from the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the political action group established by Sarah Brady after her husband, Jim, was wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. The Brady Center cited Montana's failure to regulate gun ownership by juveniles, conduct background checks, require child-safety locks, or set waiting periods for gun purchases, among other things.
In the vastness of Montana, 935,000 people are scattered over 147,000 square miles, which means there are only about six people per square mile. Only Alaska and Wyoming are more sparsely settled. (By comparison, New Jersey has 1,134 people per square mile, and Philadelphia has 11,233.)
That can mean fewer gun conflicts than in crowded coastal cities, Schweitzer said.
"People in large urban places have concerns we don't have," the governor said. "In places like Philadelphia, New York, Boston, you have gun issues that are completely alien to us."
State legislator Kevin T. Furey, 23, a Democrat who served with the Army in Iraq, owns a .270 bolt-action hunting rifle and says hunting and guns are ingrained in the state's DNA. So, he said, is opposition to government control.
"A large percentage of people are pro-gun, but a large percentage are also pro-choice," Furey said. "There's an almost libertarian sensibility... that government should stay out of your life.
"When someone sees 'Democrat,' they think 'control.' But when you explain to people that you don't agree with the national Democratic Party on every issue, they're willing to listen."
Furey continued: "Democrats are in power now, and we're not raising taxes, we're not taking away guns. I think that's a wake-up call for people. All those scary things they were told were going to happen, didn't."
