http://gunowners.org/pres08/mccain.htm
John McCain's Gun Control Problem
by John Velleco
Director of Federal Affairs
In 2000, Andrew McKelvey, the billionaire founder of monster.com, threw
a sizable chunk of his fortune into the gun control debate.
It was shortly after the Columbine school shooting. Bill Clinton was in
the White House and gun control was daily front-page news. McKelvey
wanted in. He started out contributing to Handgun Control Inc., which
had since been renamed the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. But
while he agreed with their gun banning goals, McKelvey thought the way
they packaged their message was too polarizing.
"I told them that Handgun Control was the wrong name. I thought what
they were doing was great but I thought it could be done differently,"
McKelvey said.
So McKelvey struck out on his own and formed Americans for Gun Safety.
Although AGS shared almost identical public policy goals as other
anti-gun groups,
McKelvey ****trayed the group as in the 'middle' on the issue and
attempted to lure pro-gun advocates into his fold.
To pull it off, he needed a bipartisan coalition with credibility on
both sides of the gun debate. On the anti-gun side, the task was easy.
Most of the Democrats and a small but vocal minority of Republicans
sup****ted President Clinton's gun control agenda.
Finding someone who could stake a claim as a pro-gunner and yet be
willing to
join McKelvey was not so easy. Enter Senator John McCain.
McCain's star was already falling with conservatives. He had carved out
a niche as a 'maverick' as the author of so-called Campaign Finance
Reform (more aptly named the in***bent protection act), which was
anathema to conservatives
but made him a darling of the mainstream media.
Gun owners were outraged over CFR, but McCain still maintained some
credibility on the gun issue.
Earlier in his career, McCain had voted against the Clinton crime bill
(which
contained a ban on so-called assault weapons), and he did not join the
16
Senate Republicans who voted for the Brady bill, which required a
five-day waiting period for the purchase of a handgun.
But as he ramped up for his presidential run in 2000, McCain, expanding
on the 'maverick' theme, staked out a position on guns far to the left
of his primary opponent, George W. Bush.
McCain began speaking out against small, inexpensive handguns and he
entertained the idea of sup****ting the 'assault weapons' ban. His
flirtation with
anti-Second Amendment legislation quickly led to a political marriage
of convenience with McKelvey.
Within months of the formation of AGS, McCain was featured in radio and
television ads in Colorado and Oregon sup****ting initiatives to
severely regulate
gun shows and register gun buyers. Anti-gunners were ecstatic to get
McCain on board.
Political consultant Scott Reed, who managed Bob Dole's presidential
campaign
in 1996, hoped McCain would "bring a conservative perspective to the
gun
debate."
The ads not only pushed the anti-gun show measure in those two states,
they also served to undermine the efforts of gun rights activists who
were furiously lobbying against the same type of bill in Congress.
"I think that if the Congress won't act, the least I can do is sup****t
the initiative in states where it's on the ballot," McCain said in an
interview. At the time still a newcomer to the gun control debate,
McCain said, "I do believe my view has evolved."
McCain continued to pursue his anti-gun agenda even after his
presidential run ended, and the next year he and McKelvey made it to
the big screen. As moviegoers flocked to see Pearl Harbor, they were
treated to an anti-gun trailer ad featuring McCain. This time the
Senator was pu****ng legislation to force people to keep firearms
locked up in the home. "We owe it to our children to be responsible by
keeping our guns locked up," McCain told viewers.
Economist and author John Lott, Jr., noted, "No mention was ever made
by McCain about using guns for self-defense or that gunlocks might
make it difficult to stop intruders who break into your home. And
research indicates that
McCain's push for gunlocks is far more likely to lead to more deaths
than it saves."
Also in 2001, McCain went from being a sup****ter of anti-gun bills to
being a
lead sponsor.
Pro-gun allies in Congress who were holding off gun show legislation --
which
would at best register gun owners and at worst close down the shows
entirely
-- were angered when McCain teamed up with Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT)
and introduced a "compromise" bill to give the issue momentum.
"There is a lot of frustration. He has got his own agenda," one
Republican Senator told Roll Call.
After September 11, 2001, McKelvey and McCain, now joined by Lieberman,
had a
new angle to push gun control.
"Terrorists are exploiting the gun show loophole," AGS ads hyped.
McCain and Lieberman hit the airwaves again in a series of radio and
TV spots, thanks to
McKelvey's multi-million dollar investment.
A Cox News Service article noted that, "The ads first focused on gun
safety but switched to terrorism after Sept. 11. Americans for Gun
Safety said the switch is legitimate."
However, Second Amendment expert Dave Kopel pointed out that, "the
McCain-Lieberman bill is loaded with poison pills which would allow a
single appointed
official to prevent any gun show, anywhere in the United States from
operating."
Ultimately, the anti-gun legislation was killed in the Congress and AGS
fizzled out and disappeared altogether. The issues for which McKelvey
spent over $10 million are still in play, however, and John McCain
remains a sup****ter of
those causes. In fact, as recently as 2004, McCain was able to force a
vote
on a gun show amendment.
In the post-Columbine and post-9/11 environments, the Second Amendment
was under attack as never before. Pro-gun patriotic Americans who
stood as a bulwark to keep the Congress from eviscerating the
Constitution were dismayed to
look across the battle lines only to see Senator McCain working with
the enemy.
John McCain tried running for president in 2000 as an anti-gunner. This
year it appears he is seeking to "come home" to the pro-gun community,
but the wounds are deep and memories long.
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