The Guns of November

Eric Slater of the L.A. Times reports that many gun rights activists are dismayed by the Bush administration's lousy record on civil liberties. He adds that "some gun owners have grown so disenchanted with President Bush that they may cast a protest vote for a third-party candidate, stay away from the polls, or even back the likely Democratic nominee, gun-control advocate John F. Kerry."

Unfortunately, Slater doesn't back up this claim with poll numbers or other non-anecdotal evidence, leading me to suspect he's talking about the same libertarian and populist types who wouldn't back Bush four years ago either. Still, the piece is worth a look. Here's a taste:

Five months after the Sept. 11 attacks, when many Americans were willing to give the president nearly anything he asked for in terms of security, NRA Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre took the administration to task.

"I have great respect for this administration. But that doesn't mean I have to agree with confiscating nail clippers from grandmothers and poking magnetic wands up skirts" at airports, LaPierre told the Conservative Political Action Conference.

"Too many are too timid to ask what these outrages are supposed to achieve. Too many are too polite to say that our Bill of Rights is too sacred to give up for homeland security or for anything else," he said.