BELLEVUE, Wash., Oct 28, 2008 -- ACORN, the publicly-funded national organization linked to voter fraud in several states is now actively interfering with the exercise of firearm civil rights in New Jersey, and the Second Amendment Foundation is calling for an immediate federal investigation.

"ACORN has, since 1998, received an estimated $31 million in government funding," said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb. "Now they have intervened in a New Jersey gun rights case in defense of an illegal Jersey City one-gun-a-month ordinance that violates the state preemption statute.

The following is the text of an open letter to the nation's hunters and sportsmen issued today by Illinois State Rifle Association Executive Director Richard Pearson:

Fellow Sportsman,

Hello, my name is Rich Pearson and I have been active in the firearm rights movement for over 40 years. For the past 15 years, I have served in the Illinois state capitol as the chief lobbyist for the Illinois State Rifle Association.

I lobbied Barack Obama extensively while he was an Illinois State Senator. As a result of that experience, I know Obama's attitudes toward guns and gun owners better than anyone. The truth be told, in all my years in the Capitol I have never met a legislator who harbors more contempt for the law-abiding firearm owner than does Barack Obama.

NEWTOWN, Conn. – The Obama campaign in Indiana, on September 27, unlawfully obtained and made unauthorized use of a proprietary media list belonging to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) – the trade association for the firearms industry. Sen. Obama used this list to e-mail a press release concerning National Hunting and Fishing Day.

On October 8, NSSF sent a “cease and desist” letter to the Obama campaign demanding that they immediately stop any further unauthorized misuse of its proprietary media list.

The list contains the names and addresses of members of the media that attended the NSSF Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show (SHOT Show) – the world's largest firearms trade show and the 23rd largest trade show of any kind in North America.

The list can only be obtained from NSSF and its use is tightly controlled by NSSF. Neither the Obama campaign, nor its operations in Indiana, obtained any rights from NSSF to use the list.

By Larry S. Moore

A record crowd of 1300 sportsmen converged on Columbus, Ohio for the annual U.S. Sportsmen Alliance's 12th Annual "Save Our Heritage Rally" on September 27. In addition to the opportunity to win new firearms or perhaps that dream hunting or fishing trip (or 20 acres of hunting ground!), many also came to hear Senator John McCain, the Republican Presidential candidate. The Senator was scheduled to deliver the keynote address, however the Wall Street financial crisis caused the Senator to suspend his campaign to return to Washington D.C.

At the request of Mike Budzik, who is heading the Ohio Sportsmen for McCain effort, I traveled to Columbus early to meet with him; former Senator Mike DeWine who is heading the Ohio campaign for McCain; Aaron Hobbs, the McCain Campaign national sportsman coalition leader, along with other leading sportsmen. A number of various conservation, sportsmen and gun groups provided input to the campaign leadership, including Buckeye Firearms Association and the leadership of the Ohio Gun Collectors Association. Later in the evening, Buckeye Firearms Association Vice Chair Chad Baus spoke extensively with Hobbs and Andy Swanson, Director of Coalitions for McCain Campaign in Ohio and PA.

By Ken Hanson

The Second Amendment Foundation's (SAF) National Gun Rights Policy Conference was held at the beautiful Sheraton Crescent Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona this past weekend. I had the honor of attending on behalf of Buckeye Firearms Association and was one of the presenters during the state rights panel. This three-day conference served as a final “pep rally” as pro-gun teams headed into the championship game – the 2008 Presidential Election. The first quarter, absentee voting, was kicking off as the conference wrapped up.

Several members of Buckeye Firearms Association joined hunters, anglers and trappers from across that state this past weekend at the United States Sportsman’s Alliance's 12th Annual "Save Our Heritage Rally" held in Columbus on September 27th.

The event, as always, was a well-organized flurry of activity, as guns, hunting trips and other outdoors accessories were auctioned off and given away throughout the evening. The grand prize was 20 acres of hunting ground in south-eastern Ohio!

The keynote speaker for the evening was Senator John McCain. Making good on his campaign motto, 'Country First', McCain chose not to attend the event in person, having stayed in Washington D.C. to work through the weekend on the ongoing issues with the Wall Street financial mess. The GOP presidential candidate addressed the more than 1,300 rally attendees via satellite feed.

Unlike the recent address President Bush delivered by satellite to the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, which came off as awkward due to the President's apparent inability to hear and react to applause in real-time, Sen. McCain was clearly able to hear the crowd react to his speech. And react they did, especially at an early mention of his choice for Vice President, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Sept. 24 -- The following is a press release by the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA):

"One of the most blatant lies ever to come from a politician's mouth," is how the ISRA is characterizing a recent statement by U.S. Senator Barack Obama. Speaking in the latest issue of "Field & Stream," Obama claims that Illinois sportsmen know him as an advocate for their rights. On the contrary, Obama's voting record while a state senator clearly indicates that he has nothing but contempt for the law-abiding firearm owner.

"Any sportsman who counts Barack Obama as one of his friends is seriously confused," said ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson. "Throughout his tenure in the Illinois Senate, Obama served as one of the most loyal foot soldiers in Mayor Daley's campaign to abolish civilian firearm ownership. While a state senator, Obama voted for legislation that would ban and forcibly confiscate nearly every shotgun, target rifle and hunting rifle in the state. Obama also voted for bills that would ration the number of firearms a law-abiding citizen could own, yet give a pass to the violent thugs who roam our streets. And, inexplicably, Obama voted four times against legislation that would allow citizens to use firearms to defend their homes and families."

The (Millbury, OH) Press is reporting that Ohioans For Concealed Carry Inc. plans to hold a demonstration walk Sept. 20 in Northwood in protest of what the organization says was poor treatment of one of its members by city police.

From the story:

The group claims one of its members, Edwin Farbrother, was harassed by police officers July 5 while he was at a Woodville Road ice cream shop with his 18-year-old daughter.
Police Chief Thomas Cairl was at the shop at the time with his family and called on-duty officers when he saw Mr. Farbrother wearing a holstered weapon the chief says was about “85 percent covered” by a vest.

A press release issued by OFCC says police berated Mr. Farbrother for carrying a gun where children were present and told him he was “breaking the law by carrying his firearm openly.”

Chief Cairl last week said Mr. Farbrother first told police he was a security guard and then advised them he had a license for carrying a concealed weapon.

He said Mr. Farbrother was cooperative and officers didn’t harass him. According to the chief, a witness not affiliated with police attested to the conduct of the officers.

By Chad D. Baus

Having adopted the deceptive tactics suggested a few years ago by billionaire gun-hater Andrew McKelvey, gun and hunting ban lobbyist groups go to great lengths these days to deny that their ultimate goals are to stamp out all civilian ownership of firearms, or to eradicate all forms of hunting.

In response to warnings by grassroots pro-Second Amendment groups about these anti-gun organizations' true goals, Americans are offered assurance by the gun banners and their media friends that all they want are "sensible" or "common sense" reforms to our gun laws.

One of the loudest voices of warning about the gun ban lobby's true intentions is the National Rifle Association. And now, if one can believe the leftist Mother Jones magazine, we may have even more reason to believe the NRA when they say groups like the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Freedom States Alliance, States United to Prevent Gun Violence and the Violence Policy Center are lying about their true goals:

They had a (wo)man on the inside.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce and The Florida Retail Federation argued for three years that business owners had an absolute right to control their employees. That's why they kept calling it the "take-your-guns-to-work" legislation.

They claimed they could search employee vehicles and ban firearms from those vehicles in the employer's parking lot. They claimed businesses didn't care if customers had guns in cars, they only cared about their right to control employees. When the legislature passed the law protecting the rights of workers, The Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Retail Federation filed a lawsuit in federal court asking the Court to throw out the law.

They argued that the law requiring businesses to allow guns in vehicles in their parking lots constituted an unconstitutional "taking" of their property. In court, the federal judge ruled against them – THEY LOST.

They argued that OSHA regulations require them to provide a safe work environment for their workers, which required them to bans guns in parking lots to comply with OSHA requirements. In court, the federal judge ruled against them – THEY LOST.

They argued that, as employers, they had an absolute right to control the conduct of their employees and could ban guns from employee vehicles in company parking lots while employees were at work. In court, the federal judge ruled against them – THEY LOST.