LAT: Gun Groups May Not Be Bush Campaign Weapon

[DeepModem Mom]

THE RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE
Gun Groups May Not Be Bush Campaign Weapon
The NRA and others were a key asset in 2000. But many activists are disenchanted with the president's record on security measures.

By Eric Slater, Times Staff Writer


....some gun owners have grown so disenchanted with President Bush that they may cast a protest vote for a third-party candidate, stay away from the polls, or even back the likely Democratic nominee, gun-control advocate John F. Kerry....

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Surprisingly, the issues that have most alienated many gun groups from the Bush administration have little to do with firearms, but rather with the Patriot Act and other homeland security measures instituted after Sept. 11. Opposition to such laws has aligned gun-rights activists with unlikely partners, such as liberal Democrats and the ACLU....

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The dilemma Bush faces is that although most gun-rights groups consider him far more friendly to their concerns than Kerry, he may have lost enough of their political support to keep them from becoming an energized and therefore influential voting bloc in a close election....

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(The Bush campaign declined comment on "whether it was aware of concerns or political discontent among gun-rights activists," but the article states that the campaign will "appeal for votes" at the NRA convention, and that Cheney will give the convention keynote address Saturday night.)

Bush campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel said the president planned to launch a grass-roots outreach effort aimed at gun owners nationwide — similar to one in 2000. And Bush recently invited officials from the NRA, Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever to tour his ranch near Crawford, Texas....


http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/2004/la-na-gunpolitics13apr13,1,2467557.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[el_gato]

1. not good news for the gun-haters around here

kinda hard to demonize gun owners if they start voting against bush
en masse