Liberty Maven

There has been much criticism to go around about the official Ron Paul campaign dropping the ball here and there during the Presidential race. Much of the criticism came from his own supporters. Questioning his campaign strategy has become easy to do in hindsight, especially when you now have Ron Paul clone campaigns in overdrive across America for comparison.

By all measures Ron Paul has been an extreme advocate of the Second Amendment. In 2003, he introduced legislation that would make any gun control advocate want to shoot themselves or something else in frustration.

Specifically, my legislation repeals the five-day waiting period and the “instant” background check, which enables the federal government to compile a database of every gun owner in America. My legislation also repeals the misnamed ban on “semi-automatic” weapons, which bans entire class of firearms for no conceivable reason beside the desire of demagogic politicians to appear tough on crime. (Source)

Also, during his Presidential run he has repeatedly stated that 9/11 may never have happened if airline companies were allowed to arm their employees. This is some of the strongest advocacy for the Second Amendment from any politician. It is interesting then that the NRA gave Ron Paul a ‘B’ in 2006 largely believed to be due to him opposing the NRA compromise on gun locks legislation. Apparently, when a candidate sticks to the original intent of the Second Amendment it is grounds for negative points, according to the NRA.

The Gun Owners of America (GOA) are a different story. They gave and still give Ron Paul an A+ rating, as it should be.

There is no doubt Ron Paul is serious about our Second Amendment rights, but could he have gained the support of a Second Amendment celebrity? Someone like Dick Heller, who has taken the Second Amendment all the way to the Supreme Court? A local Virginia Ron Paul Republican, Vern McKinley is campaigning at the “Nation’s Gun Show” this weekend, and there have been reports that Dick Heller is hanging out at his table.

It’s no secret that we (Liberty Maven) love the McKinley effort to unseat Frank Wolf in Virginia’s 10th District. Truthfully, following our interview with him, we have become Vern McKinley fanatics, and for good reason. Frank Wolf voted against repealing the DC gun ban, so it is not surprising that Heller would be supportive of McKinley’s campaign as well. (NOTE: Grassroots supporters of McKinley are holding a money bomb for him on May 1st, check it out and pledge a few bucks or more at the website.)

Perhaps the timing just wasn’t quite right, but it would have been a perfect political move for Ron Paul to seek Dick Heller’s endorsement. They tried to make waves with the Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe) endorsement, but it barely made a wimper. There’s a good case that gaining the endorsement of Dick Heller would have done the same. Once a candidate is dubbed ‘unelectable’ by the media, endorsements only get mentioned in passing. Then again things may have been different.

At least it would have been a counterpunch to the face of the NRA for giving Ron Paul that ‘B’ rating.