| |
Type | Social Welfare Organization |
---|---|
Legal status | 501(c)(4) |
Purpose | Promoting "Safe and Responsible Gun Ownership" [1] |
Region served | USA |
President | Ray Schoenke |
Website | www.huntersandshooters.org (defunct) |
The American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA) was a United States-based non-profit 501(c)(4) organization which operated from 2005 to 2010. The group described itself as a national grassroots organization for responsible gun ownership and advocated for increased gun control. The organization's president, Ray Schoenke, said the AHSA was intended to bridge the gap between urban liberals and rural gun owners, but closed down due to a lack of support from the Obama administration. [2]
Critics, including the National Rifle Association, questioned whether the membership was representative of gun owners and suggested it was a front organization for gun control advocates. [3]
The AHSA described itself as "... a national grassroots organization committed to safe and responsible gun ownership" and "... a mainstream group of hunters who are looking to belong to a gun owners association that doesn't have a radical agenda", [1] and as a moderate, common-sense advocacy organization. It favored most restrictions on firearms, but believed that little progress will be made until gun owners are allowed to bring their common-sense perspective to the table. [4]
In March 2008, Brady Campaign President Paul Helmke stated that he saw his organization's issues "as complementary to" those of the AHSA. [5]
Despite the similarity in name, AHSA had no ties to the field marksmanship promoting organization, the Hunter's Shooting Association (HSA).
In June 2006, Executive Director Bob Ricker formally introduced AHSA at a press conference at the annual conference of the Outdoor Writers Association of America. [6] Ricker said at this conference that the NRA and other 2nd Amendment rights organizations did not address the specific concerns of hunters - protecting hunting lands and wildlife habitats - which led to the creation of AHSA. [7] In 2007, President Ray Schoenke addressed the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition. [8] As of October 19, 2010 The AHSA website has been taken down. President Schoenke stated that the group was closed because of lack of membership. [2]
The AHSA web site indicated four general programs: [9]
The leaders of the AHSA were[ citation needed ]:
The AHSA endorsed U.S. Senator Barack Obama for president in the 2008 general election: [18] AHSA endorsed Obama based mainly on Obama's vote for the Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act. [19] In 2008, the Obama campaign paid for Shoenke to travel to 40 events in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and Colorado to address pro-gun voters. [20]
The AHSA endorsed the following congressional candidates:
ASHA officials testified in favor of gun control legislation, such as Washington State Bill SB-5197, which aims to restrict private transactions at gun shows and create a database of gun owners. [26]
ASHA supported the call by the coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns to repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts gun trace data. [27] Repeal of the amendment is supported by more than 20 national and state police organizations [28] but opposed by the BATFE and Fraternal Order of Police, on the grounds that repeal would jeopardize lives and law enforcement operations. [29] [30]
AHSA joined in the amicus curiae brief of Maj. Gen. John D. Altenburg Jr., et al., in the Supreme Court case of D.C. v Heller, arguing that the individual right of the people to keep and bear arms enhances the collective goal of supporting national defense, and that the dichotomy between individual right argued by Heller and collective militia right argued by D.C. is false: the Second Amendment protects both. [31]
The National Rifle Association (NRA) criticized the AHSA for its members' associations with other gun-control organizations and gun-control legislation. NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris Cox characterized the AHSA as "the latest front group for the anti-gun movement." [32] In August 2005, the NRA said about the AHSA "they want to allow the FBI to keep records on law-abiding citizens who buy guns and put an end to gun shows as we know them. Not to mention the fact that they want to regulate .50 caliber rifles in the same way that machine guns are regulated." [33]
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Ray's wife Nancy is also connected politically. Like many wives of gun owners she is an independent thinker and does not like guns. She took a seat on the board of the Brady Campaign but soon became frustrated with the group's lack of progress. Ray told her that progress would not be made until gun owners were allowed to bring their common sense perspective to the table. As a result, Nancy closed the family checkbook, resigned from the Brady board, and encouraged Ray to start AHSA.
This bill represents the first step to restricting private arms sales in this state. This bill stands for a registration database of Washington gun owners...If this bill became effective, private firearm transactions brokered at gun shows could not be completed until several days after the event ends.
Seeking to pick up the baton dropped by the ham-fisted Americans for Gun Safety, the American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA) has arrived on the scene to become the latest front group for the anti-gun movement in America.