USA –-(Ammoland.com)- Six-term senator Richard Lugar, R- Ind., is facing a challenger in the May primary. As the longest-serving senator in Indiana history, the third most senior senator, and the most senior Republican (albeit Orrin Hatch disputes that), Lugar may become president pro tempore of the Senate should he secure the candidacy and should the Republicans take over that body in November.
Here’s what that means to gun owners:
Senator Lugar has a D+ rating from the NRA and an F rating from Gun Owners of America and a 53% positive rating from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Handgun Violence.
The Firearms Coalition’s Jeff Knox explains why:
Lugar… crossed party lines to vote for confirmation of both Sotomayor and Kagan [and] he has also repeatedly voted against gun owners on pure, stand-alone gun legislation…Lugar also voted in favor of the Clinton Assault Weapons Ban and then voted to extend the ban for another 10 years when it was scheduled to sunset. He also voted for the Brady Law, with background checks and waiting periods, and voted to make private transfers of firearms illegal.
The guy’s a damn domestic enemy who isn’t even eligible to vote in his “home” state, and Indiana’s other Republican senate oath-breaker, Dan Coats, is no better.
The challenger I referred to at the start of this piece? Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock.
He’s been endorsed by Gun Owners of America and the National Rifle Association.
The downside? Again, per Knox:
[M]any doubt his ability to overcome the tremendous advantages Lugar enjoys in name recognition and fundraising. Another obstacle facing Mourdock is the idea that if he were to defeat Lugar in the primary, he would not be able to beat Democrat Joe Donnelly in the general election.
I wouldn’t worry about that overmuch—Indiana is basically a “red” state and “pragmatic” Republicans have pretty much established they’ll whore themselves for anyone with an “R” after his name, regardless of any principle at stake.
Where the battle will be is in the primary, so the ball is now in the court of Indiana gun owners. If you are one, what real efforts and expenditures will you personally make to toss the scoundrel Lugar out on his ear? How will you join together with other gun owners to make that your goal and then to attain it?
And should that fail, there’s one other question not just voting gun owners in Indiana–but everywhere–need to ask themselves:
If you continually reward Republicans for betrayal, what is their incentive to ever change?
Afterword:
I don’t know a thing about Indiana grassroots gun rights activism, so I used some keywords and went looking. I found Indiana Gun Owners forum and I’m not readily seeing any relevant discussion happening in re Lugar there or on the INGO Facebook page. Likewise, a cursory glance at the Indiana State Rifle and Pistol Association website comes up empty. About all I found after several minutes was a 23-comment board thread at IndianaShooter.com that hasn’t been added to since January.
Who are the state gun rights leaders out there, and why are they so difficult to find for someone trying to learn, with only six weeks and change left until decision day, and Mourdock behind in the polls?
It’s not like there isn’t a large body of potential foot soldiers. It’s not like they didn’t just show their support en masse for their personal right to keep and bear arms over the past weekend.
Indiana gun activists: educate me here. Point me to the organized and comprehensive grassroots effort to unseat Lugar and I’ll do what I can to help promote it.
Note:
Gun Rights Examiner has not abandoned its policy to only endorse candidates who have successfully responded to the Gun Rights Questionnaire. The timing of this particular race requires action now—so consider this not so much an endorsement of Mourdock as another necessary CUM ULLA SELLA IN PUGNO TABERNA necessity against a proven enemy.
Also see:
About David Codrea
David Codrea is a long-time gun rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He is a field editor for GUNS Magazine, and a blogger at The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance. Read more at www.DavidCodrea.com.
