UNITED STATES 16-20 May 2008 National Rifle Association meets. Assessing gun-friendliness of 2008 US election candidates 

The 2008 Meeting & Exhibits of the National Rifle Association in Louisville, Kentucky, falls in a nationwide election year. It's a natural occasion for the delegates to fine-tune the NRA's endorsements of candidates for national, state and local office in the November election. Other business for the deep-pocketed and 4-million-strong NRA includes assessing the effectiveness of the damage control that was required after a gunman's deadly rampage at Virginia Tech in 2007 -- calls for more gun control usually spike after serious attacks. The delegates will also be reviewing recent successes and setbacks for gun rights, and commemorating Charlton Heston, the Hollywood actor and NRA past president who died in April. 

Some 60,000 delegates attended the 2007 NRA convention.

Gun control is one of the most polarizing issues in the United States. The NRA heads a camp that promotes a literal interpretation of the right to bear arms laid out in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. The argument, frequently tackled in the courts, is whether the amendment ensures an individual's right to bear arms, rather than the collective right of state militias.

Second Amendment-quoting candidates, generally Republicans, can count on NRA financial support. According to the Federal Elections Commission Reports, over the last four election cycles, the NRA has spent over US $18 million on Congressional candidates who support their agenda. A NRA rival, the smaller Gun Owners of America organization, employs a similar tactic.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain is likely to win NRA endorsement by default because both Democratic contenders, Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama, would place some restrictions on guns, but generally the organization is unhappy with his gun voting record.

Candidates and officeholders who supported Congress' 1990s ban on some assault weapons usually end up on the NRA's hit list.

Ahead of the 2008 election, the fundraising by Democrats is outpacing the fundraising of the Republicans. A question posed periodically in editorials is whether the mandate provided by its fundraising success will embolden Democratic candidates to resist the temptation to throw in gun rights patter in order to stay off the NRA hit list.

In Apr 2007 a mentally ill gunman killed 32 students and teachers at Virginia Tech University. Spurred by public anger, against the NRA as well as the gunman, the House of Representatives passed what could become the first major federal gun control law in a decade. Backed by the NRA, the measure directs states to streamline the system for keeping track of criminals, mental patients and others barred from buying firearms. If it moves through the Senate and is signed into law by President Bush, the bill represents robust gun control legislation second only to the 1994 assault weapons ban.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is one of the leaders of a push to get unregistered, illegal guns off city streets, and 235 mayors have joined the cause. As one of the country's wealthiest citizens, he doesn't have to count on NRA funding for his campaign. UPDATED Apr/08

RELATED READING:

NRA
http://www.nra.org/

Gun Owners of America
http://www.gunowners.org/

"Bittergate" sparks new look at candidates and guns (CNN 15 Apr 2008)
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/15/candidates.guns/

U.S. fundraiser to feature machine guns (Reuters 25 Jul 2007)
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyid=2007-07-24T195520Z_01_N24206162_RTRIDST_0_OUKOE-UK-USA-GUNS-NEWHAMPSHIRE.XML&src=nl_ukoddlyenough

Stopping illegal guns has to become a national priority (Boston Globe/Seattle PI 2 Jul 2007)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/322135_vennochi03.html

House panel gives NRA a victory (AP/Boston Globe 27 Jul 2007)
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/07/13/house_panel_gives_nra_a_victory/