RENO, Nev.  — Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia wowed the National Rifle Association as a Democrat who wants more guns and chastised his own party for failing to recognize the social and political reach of gun issues.


``There is nowhere I'd rather be tonight than right here with you, on the picket line of freedom's defense,'' Miller told more than 2,000 NRA members in a speech at Saturday night's banquet.

Only about half the crowd at the NRA's 131st annual meeting at the Reno Hilton hotel-casino stood when Miller was introduced as the first Democrat to give a keynote address to the gun rights group in more than a decade.

But nearly all rose to give a 30-second standing ovation by the time the popular former two-term governor finished his speech touting the NRA's 4.2 million members as the epitome of ``mainstream America.''

``Like many of you, I've got more guns than I need, but not as many as I want,'' Miller said.

``Now that may sound a bit confusing to some — a Democrat wanting more guns,'' he said, explaining he's a life member of the NRA with an A-plus voting record from the group, ``and I'm darned proud of it.''

Miller echoed the words of NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre, who told more than 4,000 delegates at the annual meeting Saturday afternoon, ``You are why Al Gore isn't in the White House.''

Miller said Gore lost partly because Democratic strategists listened to bad advice from pollsters who claimed voters favor gun control. He said Gore's stands on gun rights cost the former vice president key southern states, including Arkansas, West Virginia and Tennessee.

``I recall the surprise of national Democratic leaders at losing those states in the presidential election,'' Miller said.

``All their expert pollsters said voters favored some kind of gun control. ... Well, I stand with heartfelt conviction over a political wind gauge any day.

``What many do not understand is that the gun issue is not just about guns. It's about values. It's about setting priorities. It's about personal freedom. It's about trust,'' he said.

CONT

Miller said 73 percent of the Georgians he surveyed in a poll for his 1994 gubernatorial re-election bid agreed with the statement: ``Whenever I hear politicians talking about gun control, it makes me wonder if they understand my values or my way of life.''

The last Democrat to give the NRA's keynote address was former Rep. Jack Brooks, D-Texas, in 1991.

Bill Bauer, an NRA board member from Boerne, Texas, said Miller's speech was on the mark.

``A lot of people here (at the convention) don't even shoot guns but are concerned about the principals of the NRA,'' he said.

David O. Boehm of Rochester, N.Y., a retired appellate judge, said in recent years ``it seems most Democrats nationally have opposed instead of supported the right to possess firearms.''

But Miller ``has grown up with firearms. He understands there's nothing sinister about it,'' Boehm said. ``I thought he beautifully, articulately and eloquently expressed the feelings of so many of us here.''

Before the speech Saturday, gun control advocates accused Miller of pandering to the NRA.

``As America struggles to increase national security, Senator Miller and other lawmakers should be acting on measures that will make our communities more secure rather than courting the NRA,'' said Michael D. Barnes, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

NRA leadership ``does not represent the views of mainstream Americans,'' he said.

``Rather than working to prevent gun violence, the NRA fights to keep military-style assault weapons — high-powered weapons with no civilian purpose — easily available on our streets,'' Barnes said.

Zell was a BAD Governor for Georgia, especially for LEO.  I was P.O.'ed when the NRA suggested I vote for him over a Republican to replace Paul Coverdale after his Death.  Coverdale was a huge 2nd amendment supporter and leader in the Senate.  I must, admit, however, that since Miller has been in Washington he's representing me far better than he ever did in Atlanta.  

Can't add anything to the above at all.  Never thought I would ever vote for the man, but his performance thus far has changed that completely.

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I promise this is the last time  I'll trot this quote out, guys, but it seems to go a long way towards explaning Mr. Miller's true motives:

[b]A commentary by U.S. Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.) in the July 4 New York Times said Vice President Al Gore lost his bid for president because of the way his gun-control stance was viewed by people living in the South. While Gore won the national vote, he was swept in the South. He lost his home state of Tennessee, President Clinton's home state of Arkansas, and the Democratic mainstay of West Virginia.

Miller wrote that Gore lost in the South because of the Democratic Party's gun control message. "For a politician in the South, gun control is not just about guns. Gun control -- along with a whole bunch of other issues -- is about values," said Miller. "What you are for says a lot about who you are and who you aren't. If Southern voters ever start to think you don't understand them -- or even worse, much worse, if they think you look down on them -- they will never vote for you. Folks in the South have a simple way of saying this: 'He's not one of us.' And when a politician hears these words, he's already dead."

Miller emphasized that in the South, the issues a candidate decides to focus on during the campaign are as important as the positions taken on those issues. "Southern voters may say they're for gun control, and they may well be for gun control, but they simply don't trust anybody who spends too much time talking about it. Bill Clinton understood that. Al Gore did not," he wrote.

Miller concluded, "We Democrats can have an aggressive agenda for America. But we need to remember that talking about an agenda is quite different from getting it done. For us to get it done, the people we serve have to trust us. And right now not enough of them do, especially in the South." — "Gun Control in South is About Values", Join Together Website, July 9, 2001[/b]

When ever you hear a democrap say he is for your rights to own a gun, bendover because after they get you to sleep then they will pork you.

Precisely, [b]DoubleFeed[/b]. The kicker is this line:

"We Democrats can have an aggressive agenda for America. But we need to remember that talking about an agenda is quite different from getting it done."

In other words, the only way to implement gun control is to not make it an issue during elections, since it's been a proven campaign loser. Miller hasn't abandoned the idea of gun control, he's simply stopped acknowledging that he wants it. And this NRA speech is the perfect example of how far he's willing to go to deny his "aggressive agenda".

The fact that the quotes in the article were taken from the anti-gun [b]Join Together[/b] website seems to indicate that at least [i][b]they're[/b][/i] taking his advice to heart. Shouldn't we as well?