For Immediate Release
October 17, 2004
Contact: Stephen P. Gordon
521-637-6867
communications@badnarik.org
BADNARIK/CAMPAGNA 2004


With Friends Like This ...
NRA endorses Bush; Badnarik "not surprised"

Phoenix, AZ - On Wednesday, the National Rifle Association shed its alleged neutrality and endorsed President George W. Bush for re-election despite his exceptionally poor record on gun rights issues. Few, least of all Libertarian presidential candidate Michael Badnarik, expressed surprise.

"No, I'm not a bit surprised," said Badnarik on Sunday as he was traveling to the battleground state of Oregon for three days of campaign events. "It's par for the course."

"There's a reason author L. Neil Smith, a friend of mine, calls the NRA 'the nation's oldest, largest gun control organization,'" said Badnarik. "These are the people who wrote the 1968 Gun Control Act 'so it wouldn't be worse.' They've never met a victim disarmament law they weren't willing to capitulate to, accommodate and eventually defend."

Bush was elected in 2000 on a platform that included renewal of the 1994 "Assault Weapons Ban." The renewal failed in Congress despite his continued support.

"Republicans, including now-Attorney General John Ashcroft, have become progressively more anti-gun since becoming a majority in Congress," says Thomas Knapp, Badnarik's media coordinator. "Under Ashcroft, the Department of Justice has aggressively expanded the enforcement of Clinton-era anti-gun laws, while Ashcroft himself has pushed to expand the jurisdiction of those laws into gun shows and other areas not previously covered by them."

So why would the NRA endorse Bush, instead of a candidate who, like Badnarik, advocates repeal of the more than 20,000 unconstitutional federal gun laws?

"If you have to ask why," says Badnarik, "the answer is usually 'money.' The NRA's agenda isn't about protecting gun owners' rights. It's about getting into gun owners' wallets. And what they sell those gun owners is not real change, but the nebulous concept of 'access' to politicians already in power."

The NRA expects to spend $20 million promoting its anti-gun presidential candidate. But gun owners in 48 states and the District of Columbia will have the opportunity to vote for a pro-gun candidate, Michael Badnarik, and for other pro-gun Libertarian candidates, on November 2nd.