McCain courts gun owners of rifle association lobbying group
John McCain visited a gun shop but bought just a fishing scale during the first stop in a day of courtship of gun owners and their influential lobbying group, the National Rifle Association.
By PTI |
ST ALBANS (WEST VIRGINIA): John McCain visited a gun shop today but bought just a fishing scale during the first stop in a day of courtship of gun owners and their influential lobbying group, the National Rifle Association.
The Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting has been no darling of the gun-rights lobby, having pushed through signature campaign finance legislation gun supporters say has muzzled free speech. McCain has also favoured tighter restrictions for buying guns at gun shows.
Nonetheless, McCain said he expected the votes of gun owners in his general election campaign against either Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton, the remaining Democratic presidential contenders.
"I will say we have had disagreements in the past, but my support and advocacy for Second Amendment rights, I am very proud of and I look forward to receiving their endorsement," McCain told reporters as his campaign bus wended its way here from the capital city of Charleston. The Second Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees "the right of the people to keep and bear arms."
McCain said the only gun controls he favours are limits to keep guns from people with criminal backgrounds or indications of mental problems, although the Arizona senator said that, as president, he would sign a law that prohibited individuals from buying guns at a gun show without going through the same checks as those buying guns at regular stores.
McCain's gun shop visit in West Virginia, a general election battleground state, and his appearance at an NRA convention in Louisville, Kentucky, were aimed at assuring gun owners a McCain administration would not infringe upon their rights.
The Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting has been no darling of the gun-rights lobby, having pushed through signature campaign finance legislation gun supporters say has muzzled free speech. McCain has also favoured tighter restrictions for buying guns at gun shows.
Nonetheless, McCain said he expected the votes of gun owners in his general election campaign against either Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton, the remaining Democratic presidential contenders.
"I will say we have had disagreements in the past, but my support and advocacy for Second Amendment rights, I am very proud of and I look forward to receiving their endorsement," McCain told reporters as his campaign bus wended its way here from the capital city of Charleston. The Second Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees "the right of the people to keep and bear arms."
McCain said the only gun controls he favours are limits to keep guns from people with criminal backgrounds or indications of mental problems, although the Arizona senator said that, as president, he would sign a law that prohibited individuals from buying guns at a gun show without going through the same checks as those buying guns at regular stores.
McCain's gun shop visit in West Virginia, a general election battleground state, and his appearance at an NRA convention in Louisville, Kentucky, were aimed at assuring gun owners a McCain administration would not infringe upon their rights.
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