South Carolina Gun Shops

[noztnac]

AMMO PLUS Anderson 864-224-7333
APACHE PAWN & GUN Greenwood 864-223-4200
J & M GUN WORKS Aiken 803-644-3322
LOWCOUNTRY OUTFITTERS Bluffton 843-837-6100
Myrtle Beach Indoor Range Myrtle Beach 843-293-4344
THE GUN SHOP Walhalla 864-638-5821


Please post more as I'm sure to have left many out.

[noztnac]

ATP Gun Shop and Range 516 St James Ave 843-824-0779
Goose Creek, SC
Indoor Pistol (25 yds), Range Access: Public
Back Woods Quail Club 647 Hemingway Lane 843-546-1466
Georgetown, SC
Trap, Skeet, Sporting Clays, Range Access: Public
Beaufort Skeet Club Marine Corps Air Station 843-524-3873
Beaufort, SC
Skeet, Range Access: Private
Black Creek Gun Club 2829 Mt. Olivet Road 843-383-4467
Hartsville, SC
Outdoor Pistol (200 yds), Outdoor Rifle (200 yds), Pistol Silhouette, Range Access: Private
Coastal Sports Hwy. 17 Business 843-651-3131
Murrells Inlet, SC
Indoor Pistol (25 yd), Indoor Rifle, Hours: 10-8Tues-Sat 12-6Sun , Range Access: Public
Gilberts Gun Club & Sportman Center 323 Volliedale Drive 803-892-6329
Gilbert, SC
Outdoor Pistol (100 yds.), Outdoor Rifle (100 yds.), Rifle Silhouette, Pistol Silhouette, Range Access: Private
Greenville Gun Club 31 2nd Ave 864-277-6154
Conestee, SC
Outdoor Pistol (25 yd), Outdoor Rifle (300 yd), Trap, Skeet, Sporting Clays, Hours: 9AM to Sunset , Range Access: Private
Lower Richland H. S. JROTC 2165 Lower Richland Blvd 803-695-3018
Hopkins, SC
Indoor Pistol (50 ft), Indoor Rifle (50 ft), Range Access: Public-H.S.
Mid Carolina Gun Club 1786 Kennerly Road 803-356-3990
Orangeburge, SC
Outdoor Pistol (25yrs), Outdoor Rifle (200yrds), Rifle Silhouette, Trap, Skeet, Sporting Clays, Archery, Range Access: Private
Mid Carolina Rifle Club 3433 Fish Hatchery Road 803-796-1009
Gaston, SC
Outdoor Pistol (25 - 200 yds), Outdoor Rifle (25 - 200 yds), Pistol Silhouette, Range Access: Private
Mid-Carolina Gun Club 4436 Augusta Rd 803-356-3990
Lexington, SC
Outdoor Pistol (25-200 m), Outdoor Rifle (25-200 m), Rifle Silhouette, Pistol Silhouette, Trap, Skeet, Archery, Range Access: Private
Myrtle Beach Indoor Shooting Range 4857 Highway 17 South Bypass ... 843-293-4344
Myrtle Beach, SC
Indoor Pistol (30 yards), Indoor Rifle (30 yards), Rifle Silhouette, Pistol Silhouette, Archery, Range Access: Public
Newberry Pistol Club 2748 Dixie Drive 803-276-9316
Newberry, SC
Indoor Pistol (25 yds), Archery, Range Access: Private
Palmetto Gun Club Givhans Range Wright Road 843-769-4502
Charleston, SC
Outdoor Pistol (50 yards), Outdoor Rifle (200 yards), Pistol Silhouette, Range Access: Private
Palmetto Gun Club Ridgeville Range 951 Summer Road 843-769-4502
Charleston, SC
Outdoor Pistol (50 yards), Outdoor Rifle (800 yards), Range Access: Private
Palmetto Indoor Range & Sporting ... 98 Purrysburg Road 843-784-5474
Hardeeville , SC
Indoor Pistol (25yds), Indoor Rifle (25yds), Rifle Silhouette, Pistol Silhouette, Hours: 10am - 9pm , Range Access: Public
Palmetto State Shooting Center Riverwalk Business Park (843) 379-4867
Ridgeland (Okatie), SC
Indoor Pistol (25 yd), Indoor Rifle (25 yd), Hours: 10am-6pm Tues-Sun , Range Access: Public
Palmetto State Shooting Center Riverwalk Business Park, ... 843-379-4867
Ridgeland, SC
Indoor Pistol (25 yds), Indoor Rifle (25 yds), Hours: 10 to 6 except Mon. , Range Access: Public
Reedy River Gun Club RT 1 BOX 145 HWY 252 864-861-9885
Ware Shoals, SC
Sporting Clays, Range Access: Public
Savannah River Rifle and Pistol ... PO Box 5337 803-642-6380
Aiken, SC
Outdoor Pistol (up to 100 yds), Outdoor Rifle (100 yds), Rifle Silhouette, Hours: Daylight 8 to Dusk , Range Access: Private
Shaw Rod & Gun Club Shaw AFB 803-469-3022
Shaw AFB, SC
Outdoor Pistol (25 yds.), Outdoor Rifle (100 yds.), Trap, Skeet, Range Access: Private
Shooters Choice 944 Sunset Blvd 803-791-5498
West Columbia, SC
Indoor Pistol (25 yds), Indoor Rifle (25 yds), Hours: 10AM-9PM Mon-Sat , Range Access: Public
Spartanburg Gun Club PO Box 779 864-474-2628
Whitestone, SC
Trap, Skeet, Sporting Clays, Range Access: Private
Tads Poles 201 Charlotte Highway 864-439-1371
Lyman, SC
Archery, Hours: M-S 8AM-9PM SUN 1-6 , Range Access: Public
Target Gun Club-Target Props RR 110 843-842-6268
Ridgeland, SC
Outdoor Pistol (150 ft), Outdoor Rifle (300 yds), Range Access: Private
Top Gun Shooting Range (U.S. Training ... 3694 Palmetto Pointe Blvd 843-293-3428
Myrtle Beach, SC
Indoor Pistol (25 yds), Range Access: Public
Union High Rifle Range 1163 Lakeside Dr (864) 429-1754
Union, SC
Outdoor Pistol (50 m, 50 ft.), Outdoor Rifle (50 m, 50 ft.), Range Access: Public
Union High School 1163 Lakeside Dr 864-429-1754x4
Union, SC
Outdoor Rifle (50 ft, 50 m), Range Access: Private

[noztnac]

Gun Shop / Indoor Shooting Range
Shooter's Choice 944 Sunset Blvd. West Columbia, SC 803-791-5498

[fireworks_god]

Contacting them would be great. We could also organize ground effort to distribute flyers. Maybe we could speak with them about the possibility of holding events?

We're definitely getting some great ideas here on how to go local with this. Over the next couple of days we'll line up these projects and make them happen! :)

[noztnac]

We should send them Ron Paul flyers, posters, etc. They need to be made aware that the other candidates are not nearly as strong on 2nd amendment rights.

Pawn shops are also a very big factor in SC and they sell guns.

[noztnac]

Your avatar is funny. I feel like I'm talking to a ferret.

Ferret is - Choke-chay-bee in Korean by the way. Not very useful but...oh well.

[DesignerJoes]

awesome info... bump!

[RSLudlum]

Charleston Meetup has already held a blood drive at one of them.

[noztnac]

Charleston Meetup has already held a blood drive at one of them.


Did they withdraw blood by bullet wound?:D

[noztnac]

http://www.gunowners.org/pres08/index.html

Gun Owners of America

Ron Paul
by Larry Pratt
Executive Director

Ron Paul has represented areas near Houston, Texas for nearly 20 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. He has the reputation of the paramount defender of the Constitution and seeks to follow it in casting every one of his votes.

Ron Paul has been a leader in the fight to defend and restore the Second Amendment. He has sponsored legislation to repeal the following:

the Brady law;
the requirement to lock up your safety (guns);
the law permitting the US to be part of the UN (which, among other attacks on American freedoms, seeks to ban privately transfered firearms);
participation in UNESCO -- which has been used to dumb down US education standards;
the federal prohibition on importation of guns on a sporting basis test;
federal prohibitions on any pilot wishing to carry a handgun to and in his cockpit; and,
the so-called "assault weapons" ban (prior to its sunsetting in 2004).

[noztnac]

http://www.gunowners.org/pres08/index.html

All candidates.

[noztnac]

Fred Thompson
Fred Thompson: "Generally" Consistent
by Craig Fields
Director of Internet Operations

When a person simply musing about the possibility of running for the GOP presidential nomination finds himself essentially tied with the Democratic frontrunner overnight,1 something has happened.

That something was a collective sigh of relief across America's conservative base. It continued when Thompson eventually anounced his candidacy on Jay Leno's late-night TV show. Finally (it was thought), a high-profile candidate… without the liberal baggage of a Giuliani, Romney or McCain.

That's because Thompson is relatively conservative in his overall philosophy. He has no need to convince voters that he has changed his ways and now sees the light, because he has been fairly consistent throughout his career.

He is in his own words "against gun control, generally."2 And his voting record shows that to be true, generally. When he voted anti-gun, it was usually to expand federal authority. This is unfortunately consistent with his being a "law and order" conservative (pardon the pun). A complete report on each individual vote is appended below.

Gun owners should also be aware that Thompson unabashedly favors the odious McCain-Feingold Incumbent Protection Act. This legislation, characterized by its proponents as campaign finance reform, severely limits the abilities of groups like GOA to inform the public about the gun rights voting records of politicians already in office. In many cases, it becomes illegal to even mention a politician's name in on-air advertising the month before an election. Thompson -- having voted in favor of the restrictions several times -- thinks doing so is "not a non-conservative position, although I agree that a lot of people have interpreted it that way."3

Fred Thompson was elected to the Senate as a Republican in 1994 -- the 105th Congress -- to fill the remaining two years of then-Vice-President Al Gore's term. Thompson was reelected (handily) in 1996 to a full six-year term.

The timing was such that many of his "gun votes" on Capitol Hill came during the hysteria following the Columbine tragedy in 1999. It seemed that everyone in the country (except GOA supporters) considered it a foregone conclusion that something regarding gun control had to pass Congress that summer.

The Republican Leadership, especially in the Senate, adopted a "Gun Control Lite" strategy -- hoping to preclude major gun bans by passing specific and less onerous restrictions that were largely extensions of current law.

Happily, GOA supporters rose up in truly Herculean fashion that summer, and when the smoke cleared no new gun control at all had made it to the President's desk. Thompson's actions at that time were somewhat haphazard (he voted both for and against the "Lite" strategy at different points, while voting against most, but not all, anti-gun amendments brought by other Senators).

In total, GOA tracked 33 votes in the U.S. Senate while Thompson was there. He voted pro-gun 20 times. Those votes are detailed below.

Note: this corrects an earlier version, which erroneously had Thompson voting pro-gun 19 times.


Fred Thompson's Gun-Related Votes
The U.S. Senate Debated:
Thompson
Voted:
Government wiretapping of innocent citizens.4
Anti-gun
Anti-gun terror bill (S. 735 ).5
Anti-gun
Taxpayer funding to anti-gun lobby groups.6
Pro-gun
Taxpayer funding to anti-gun groups -- 2nd vote.7
Pro-gun
Anti-gun terror bill -- final passage.8
Anti-gun
Taggants in gunpowder.9
Pro-gun
Lautenberg Domestic Confiscation gun ban.10
Anti-gun
Kohl "Gun Free Zones" ban.11
Pro-gun
Free Speech restrictions.12
Anti-gun
Smith "Anti-Brady" Amendment.13
Pro-gun
Gutting of the Smith “Anti-Brady” Amendment.14
Anti-gun
Banning the importation of magazines.15
Pro-gun
Mandatory unsafe gun storage requirements.16
Pro-gun
"Lock Up Your Safety" mandatory trigger locks.17
Pro-gun
Anti-gun Clinton judge appointment.18
Anti-gun
Anti-gun Surgeon General.19
Anti-gun
Ending the filibuster of a major anti-gun crime bill.20
Anti-gun
Background registration checks.21
Pro-gun
Banning private sales of firearms at gun shows.22
Pro-gun
Anti-gun juvenile crime bill (S. 254).23
Pro-gun
Mandatory trigger locks with new handgun sales.24
Pro-gun
Hatch-Craig Gun Control "Lite".25
Pro-gun
More severe regulation of internet gun sales.26
Pro-gun
Young adult gun ban.27
Anti-gun
Medium-capacity magazine ban.28
Pro-gun
Adopting the "Gun Control Lite" strategy.29
Anti-gun
Gun show ban.30
Pro-gun
Praising the gun control mommies.31
Pro-gun
Senate instructions to pass gun control (Reed).32
Pro-gun
Senate instructions to pass gun control (Boxer).33
Pro-gun
Attacking gun makers in court.34
Pro-gun
McCain's Incumbent Protection (2000 version).35
Anti-gun
Incumbent Protection (2002 failed filibuster).36
Anti-gun

[noztnac]

Rudy's Gun Control Agenda
by John Velleco
Director of Federal Affairs

The 2007 version of Rudy Giuliani defends his past support of gun control as a necessary evil to fight crime in a big city.

When pressed about his views of the Second Amendment by Sean Hannity of Fox News, Giuliani attempted to tap dance around his gun control record without alienating the 290 million people who don't live in New York City.

The former mayor told Hannity that gun control was "appropriate" for the city, but that states and cities should be allowed to make those decisions locally.

"So," Hannity continued, "you would support the state's rights to choose on specific gun laws?"

"Yes, I mean, a place like New York that is densely populated, or maybe a place that is experiencing a serious crime problem, … maybe you have one solution there and in another place, more rural, more suburban, other issues, you have a different set of rules."

Apparently, in Giuliani's America law-abiding citizens in large cities would not enjoy the same constitutional liberties as the rest of the country. Why? Are city dwellers not as trustworthy as country folks? Are metro-Americans not deserving of the right to self-protection?

Disarming citizens because they live in a high crime area is taking away the most effective means of self-defense from the people who need it most. Creating mandatory victims is no way to fight a crime problem.1

If Giuliani's gun control agenda was really limited 'only' to big cities, that would be disturbing enough. But the record shows that the Mayor continually tried to export his gun control agenda to the rest of the nation.

The new Giuliani of state's rights simply does not square with the Mayor of the '90s.

In 1993, before even being sworn in as mayor, Giuliani met with then-President Clinton at the White House to discuss national gun registration. Giuliani supported the Brady bill, which had recently passed, but argued that it didn't go far enough.

The President, largely crediting Giuliani for the idea, enthusiastically sent Attorney General Janet Reno off to develop a gun licensing and registration system.2

The Clinton-Giuliani scheme was slowed only by the Republican Revolution of 1994.

In May of 1994, as the battle over the ban on certain semi-automatic firearms reached its height, Giuliani threw his support behind the ban. On the eve of the final vote, he noted that so-called assault weapons "have no legitimate purpose."3

When the ban passed, Giuliani commented that, "This is an important step towards curtailing the indiscriminate proliferation of guns across the nation."4 [emphasis added]

When a lunatic attacked innocent civilians at the Empire State Building in 1997, Mayor Giuliani used the tragedy to again push for gun control beyond his city's limits.

"We need a federal law that bans all assault weapons, and if in fact you do need a handgun you should be subjected to at least the same restrictions -- and really stronger ones -- that exist for driving an automobile," the Mayor said.

"The United States Congress needs to pass uniform licensing for everyone carrying a gun."5

When the Mayor did focus on City gun laws, which already were among the most stringent in the country, his effort was only to further disarm the law-abiding.

In 1998, Giuliani pushed a proposal that would require gun owners to use "trigger locks" on all firearms, thus rendering the guns useless in the even of an emergency. Such a law would be enforced, said the Mayor, through "criminal penalties and the revocation of gun permits."6

If Giuliani had a federalist conversion, it did not occur in his first six years as mayor, for in 2000, he again took his gun control show on the road.

In becoming the first Republican mayor to launch a city lawsuit against gun makers, Giuliani complained that "less restrictive gun laws in other parts of the country" exacerbated the crime problem in New York City.7

Giuliani is not only a long-time supporter of gun control, but his support was convenient to leading anti-gun Democrats eager for the appearance of bipartisanship.

A big-city mayor supporting gun control is hardly newsworthy. The fact that Giuliani is a Republican gave the story its man-bites-dog angle.

In the midst of the fight over the 1994 crime bill and semi-auto gun ban, Giuliani escorted President Clinton to Minnesota to stump for the bill. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune noted that, "Clinton seemed especially proud that New York's Republican Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, as well as Philadelphia's Democratic Mayor Edward Rendell, agreed to accompany him on his trip."8

New York Senator Chuck Schumer also gleefully accepted Giuliani's support of the semi-auto ban. According to a Newsday article, Schumer hoped Giuliani would "sway some skittish Republicans."9

The following year, when the Republican controlled Congress tried to repeal the gun ban, Giuliani made the trip to Washington to testify against the repeal effort.

So, if the new Rudy Giuliani in fact supports state's rights in the area of gun control, it is a dramatic shift from the policies he has been advocating for over a decade.

This flirtation with federalism is merely a facade, however, for in the recent interview with Sean Hannity, Giuliani assured gun owners that he supports only gun control laws that are "reasonable and sensible." He then went on to defend his support of the Brady bill and the semi-auto ban, which are neither. 10

[noztnac]

Will The Real Romney Please Stand Up?
by Erich Pratt
Director of Communications

As he travels through the South -- contemplating a run for the presidency -- Mitt Romney sounds like the modern-day incarnation of John Wayne.

He tells shooters how he used to hunt rabbits as a boy. He visits with attendees at gun shows, impressing them with his knowledge of the Bill of Rights. He quotes the "right to keep and bear arms" language from memory and assures gun owners he's on their side.

But wait, isn't this the same Mitt Romney -- the former governor of Massachusetts -- who boasted that his view on firearms was "not going to make me the hero" of the gun lobby?

In fact, it is one and the same man. So what happened to the candidate who promised that he would not lift a finger to "chip away" at the gun laws in Massachusetts -- a state that has some of the most draconian gun restrictions in the union?

When Romney ran for Senate in 1994, he told the Boston Herald that he supported the Brady gun-control law and a ban on scores of semi-automatic firearms. Both laws were heavily supported by Democrats and -- according to President Bill Clinton -- were the reason that his party lost control of the Congress in 1994.

Ten years later, the federal ban on semi-automatic firearms was stripped from the law books. The banned guns became legal once again, and despite the Chicken Little cries from gun control advocates around the country, crime rates did not soar.

This should not be surprising. After the semi-auto ban expired in 2004, the Congressional Research Service admitted there was no evidence to support the notion that the ban had actually reduced crime, especially since -- and here's a great admission -- the "banned weapons and magazines were never used in more than a modest fraction of all gun murders" before the ban was implemented.

Likewise, the Brady gun control law has done nothing to curb crime, as was reported in one of the nation's leading anti-gun medical publications, the Journal of the American Medical Association. The journal definitively stated in 2000 that the Brady law has failed to reduce "homicide rates and overall suicide rates" in states after they were required to impose waiting periods and background checks.

But despite the failure of these gun laws, Romney did not back off his support for gun control during his run for governor in 2002.

"We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts; I support them," he said during a gubernatorial debate with Democratic candidate Shannon O'Brien. "I won't chip away at them; I believe they protect us and provide for our safety."

Perhaps Mr. Romney knows something that the criminologists don't know -- the criminologists who have actually studied these issues and have reported that gun control has failed to make people safer.

What we do know is that even in Massachusetts, Romney has tried to appease both sides of the aisle. As governor, Romney supported legislation to ease restrictions on gun licensing in the state, but he only did so at the expense of gun rights, as he signed a draconian ban on common, household firearms that are owned by millions of Americans across the nation.

This is kind of like the thief who sticks a gun in your ribs and demands $100, but then gives you $25 back to "soften" the blow.

Seeing that Mr. Romney likes to frequent both sides of the legislative aisle, Americans are going to want to know where he really stands on issues that are important to them. And when they go to polls next year, voters are going to be asking, "Will the real Mitt Romney please stand up?"

[noztnac]

I posted these to make it easier to copy and paste into documents.

[noztnac]

John McCain's Gun Control Problem
by John Velleco
Director of Federal Affairs

In 2000, Andrew McKelvey, the billionaire founder of monster.com, threw a sizable chunk of his fortune into the gun control debate.

It was shortly after the Columbine school shooting. Bill Clinton was in the White House and gun control was daily front-page news. McKelvey wanted in.

He started out contributing to Handgun Control Inc., which had since been renamed the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. But while he agreed with their gun banning goals, McKelvey thought the way they packaged their message was too polarizing.

"I told them that Handgun Control was the wrong name. I thought what they were doing was great but I thought it could be done differently," McKelvey said.

So McKelvey struck out on his own and formed Americans for Gun Safety. Although AGS shared almost identical public policy goals as other anti-gun groups, McKelvey portrayed the group as in the 'middle' on the issue and attempted to lure pro-gun advocates into his fold.

To pull it off, he needed a bipartisan coalition with credibility on both sides of the gun debate. On the anti-gun side, the task was easy. Most of the Democrats and a small but vocal minority of Republicans supported President Clinton's gun control agenda.

Finding someone who could stake a claim as a pro-gunner and yet be willing to join McKelvey was not so easy. Enter Senator John McCain.

McCain's star was already falling with conservatives. He had carved out a niche as a 'maverick' as the author of so-called Campaign Finance Reform (more aptly named the incumbent protection act), which was anathema to conservatives but made him a darling of the mainstream media.

Gun owners were outraged over CFR, but McCain still maintained some credibility on the gun issue.

Earlier in his career, McCain had voted against the Clinton crime bill (which contained a ban on so-called assault weapons), and he did not join the 16 Senate Republicans who voted for the Brady bill, which required a five-day waiting period for the purchase of a handgun.

But as he ramped up for his presidential run in 2000, McCain, expanding on the 'maverick' theme, staked out a position on guns far to the left of his primary opponent, George W. Bush.

McCain began speaking out against small, inexpensive handguns and he entertained the idea of supporting the 'assault weapons' ban. His flirtation with anti-Second Amendment legislation quickly led to a political marriage of convenience with McKelvey.

Within months of the formation of AGS, McCain was featured in radio and television ads in Colorado and Oregon supporting initiatives to severely regulate gun shows and register gun buyers. Anti-gunners were ecstatic to get McCain on board.

Political consultant Scott Reed, who managed Bob Dole's presidential campaign in 1996, hoped McCain would "bring a conservative perspective to the gun debate."

The ads not only pushed the anti-gun show measure in those two states, they also served to undermine the efforts of gun rights activists who were furiously lobbying against the same type of bill in Congress.

"I think that if the Congress won't act, the least I can do is support the initiative in states where it's on the ballot," McCain said in an interview.

At the time still a newcomer to the gun control debate, McCain said, "I do believe my view has evolved."

McCain continued to pursue his anti-gun agenda even after his presidential run ended, and the next year he and McKelvey made it to the big screen.

As moviegoers flocked to see Pearl Harbor, they were treated to an anti-gun trailer ad featuring McCain. This time the Senator was pushing legislation to force people to keep firearms locked up in the home.

"We owe it to our children to be responsible by keeping our guns locked up," McCain told viewers.

Economist and author John Lott, Jr., noted, "No mention was ever made by McCain about using guns for self-defense or that gunlocks might make it difficult to stop intruders who break into your home. And research indicates that McCain's push for gunlocks is far more likely to lead to more deaths than it saves."

Also in 2001, McCain went from being a supporter of anti-gun bills to being a lead sponsor.

Pro-gun allies in Congress who were holding off gun show legislation -- which would at best register gun owners and at worst close down the shows entirely -- were angered when McCain teamed up with Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and introduced a "compromise" bill to give the issue momentum.

"There is a lot of frustration. He has got his own agenda," one Republican Senator told Roll Call.

After September 11, 2001, McKelvey and McCain, now joined by Lieberman, had a new angle to push gun control.

"Terrorists are exploiting the gun show loophole," AGS ads hyped. McCain and Lieberman hit the airwaves again in a series of radio and TV spots, thanks to McKelvey's multi-million dollar investment.

A Cox News Service article noted that, "The ads first focused on gun safety but switched to terrorism after Sept. 11. Americans for Gun Safety said the switch is legitimate."

However, Second Amendment expert Dave Kopel pointed out that, "the McCain-Lieberman bill is loaded with poison pills which would allow a single appointed official to prevent any gun show, anywhere in the United States from operating."

Ultimately, the anti-gun legislation was killed in the Congress and AGS fizzled out and disappeared altogether. The issues for which McKelvey spent over $10 million are still in play, however, and John McCain remains a supporter of those causes. In fact, as recently as 2004, McCain was able to force a vote on a gun show amendment.

In the post-Columbine and post-9/11 environments, the Second Amendment was under attack as never before. Pro-gun patriotic Americans who stood as a bulwark to keep the Congress from eviscerating the Constitution were dismayed to look across the battle lines only to see Senator McCain working with the enemy.

John McCain tried running for president in 2000 as an anti-gunner. This year it appears he is seeking to "come home" to the pro-gun community, but the wounds are deep and memories long.