Chattanooga, TN – -(Ammoland.com)- In 2013, I watched as a rabidly anti-gun administration committed the worst kind of legislative overreach in my home state of Colorado – and I responded by starting a grassroots recall movement that ultimately removed two sitting state senators, including the Senate President.
I did this not for fame, fortune, or glory, but because it was the right thing to do in the face of tyrannical actions by those attacking our Constitutional rights.
Not one to rest on my laurels, I next set out to make a difference in the Midterm elections of 2014. I traveled at my own expense to Iowa, Colorado, and Connecticut to get gun owners to vote, and my “roll up your sleeves and look people in the eye” efforts proved key to gun rights successes across the nation. 2015 saw me spending ten days in Virginia, helping to keep a pro-gun majority in the state Senate.
It also saw my election to the NRA Board of Directors – an honor and privilege made possible only by my fellow NRA members, who nominated me via member petition.
While serving as an NRA Director, I spent over forty days on the road during the 2016 election season, fighting universal background check ballot measures in Maine and Nevada; connecting with gun owners in Georgia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina to get out the vote; and demonstrating the powerful force of gun owners’ grassroots politics on a national scale.
On the occasions that I was asked why I came, I offered the same response: “This is our Republic. We need to stick together.”
My job as an NRA Director is to give input that helps the NRA be the most effective voice for gun owners. I believe that the best way to do that is to be directly involved with locals and local campaigns, to be in the field, to look people in the eye, and to hear their concerns first-hand. So I get on airplanes and go, seeking neither accolades nor reimbursements. I knock on doors, attend meetings at hunting clubs and country stores, put out signs, sit down and talk with locals, and stop at local gun stores. The knowledge that someone took the time to travel and help makes a difference, and the lessons learned and connections made make our Association more effective.
I have taken my responsibility to our NRA membership seriously and refused to take them for granted in my run for re-election in 2018. Despite already being selected by the NRA Nominating Committee, I again sought nomination by member petition and am proud to say that, despite recent bylaw changes that significantly increase the number of signatures required, I once more received the grassroots support of our members – one of only three people on the 2018 ballot to receive both nominations.
I hope now that I can count on your vote to retain my seat – because there is much work still to be done. In 2018, several important Senate seats in battleground states will help to ultimately determine the course of the United States Supreme Court, and I have plans to demonstrate to citizens how to effectively get involved. I have other plans as well –ways to strengthen connections to state and local allies; updates to training; tactics for increasing school safety; expansion of youth shooting sports; and…. Well, stay tuned for all that – and be ready.
To learn more about what I do when not crusading on the road, spending time with my family, or training at the range (I am a shooter, after all), visit my website at www.knight4nra.com.