McCain and the NRA - a logical view

Some news and commentary sites are criticizing the National Rifle Association (NRA) for its public acceptance of John McCain yesterday. Insinuations, such as those by Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic, that this is evidence that the NRA is a pawn of the GOP is a stretch at best and an outright lie at worst.

Others, such as Paul Helmke of the Huffington Post, offer up McCain's C+ NRA rating as an illustration of hypocrisy. Let's take a look at some of McCain's ratings from other gun groups to get a better picture:

• Gun Owners of America, 2006 : 100%
• Brady Campaign, 2003 (anti-gun): only 14%
• Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, 1999-2000 (anti-gun): 0%
• and for good measure...NRA, 1993-1994: 100%

Now compare that to Obama, who has recieved an "F" from the NRA from 1999 thru 2004, and Hillary Clinton who has an "F" from the NRA, a 100% from the Brady Campaign, and 0% from Gun Owners of America between 2001-2006.

With these numbers the picture becomes clearer and logic prevails. Yes, the NRA and McCain do not see eye to eye on every issue. Yes their internal magazine has sniped at him in the past when their positions did not align. Much like, say, abortion rights activists, gun owners and the NRA distrust any attempt to chip away at their civil rights and clamor loudly at those who do the chipping. Despite previous squabbles, the choice to rally behind McCain is a smart one for the NRA, and not exactly hypocritical. McCain promises to align his positions closer to that of the NRA's and the NRA delivers votes to the candidate most likely to support those positions and appoint judges sympathetic to them. More importantly, the alliance attempts to prevent a future "President Obama", who would surely be the most anti-gun executive who ever held the position.