I wrote a “Right To Keep And Bear Arms” column for Georgia Outdoor News for years. The following was my July, 2004 column.

The weeks after 9/11/01 most of the 16 houses on my street had American flags flying from mailboxes. Memorial Day weekend this year mine was the only one. How soon we forget.

And how soon we forget the threats to our gun rights. Just four years ago we seemed to be losing the battle to own guns. We had a president that signed every new gun control bill he could help get passed and did not encourage enforcement of existing gun laws against criminals. Lawsuits, some filed by parts of the federal government, threatened to bankrupt gun manufactures and distributors and make it more difficult and expensive for anyone to get a gun or ammunition.

Then President Bush was elected and things calmed down. When Republicans took the majority in the Senate as well as keeping it in the House two years later, little was mentioned about gun ban bills for a while.

Now the gun banners are back. John Kerry says he would rather represent the NAACP than the NRA. Then he says he supports the 2nd Amendment. But he can’t run from his voting record. He made a special trip back to the Senate from the campaign trail to vote to extend the Clinton ban on guns he called “assault weapons,” a vote that also killed a ban on frivolous lawsuits against gun manufactures.

President Bush says he supports extension of the Clinton ban, but has not worked to support its passage. He does say he will sign it if it is passed. He supports banning frivolous lawsuits that single out guns.

Over the past few years Kerry has received a rating of “F” from both the National Rifle Association and the Gun Owners of America. He voted with the Brady Bunch, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, 100 percent of the time. You can not support law-abiding citizen’s right to keep and bear arms and vote for every law suggested to restrict that right.

Watch what John Kerry says during the next few months, but remember his voting record. If you are a gun owner and want to keep your gun, keep his actions, not his words, in mind when you vote.

Closer to home, Herman Cain, Mac Collins and Johnny Isakson are running in the Republican primary for the U. S. Senate Seat Zell Miller is giving up. Collins and Isakson have voting records as Congressmen to examine and all will be rated by the NRA and GOA in coming months.

On his web site Isakson says “”We need criminal control not gun control. We should not only support gun ownership, shooting sports, and hunting, we should encourage them. One of our most cherished freedoms as Americans is our right to keep and bear arms, and we must never let anyone threaten it.”

That seems to be a big improvement over his past voting record. He voted for the Clinton mandatory background check and waiting period in 1999 and voted three times to back lawsuits against gun manufacturers.

Collins’ web site does not have a formal statement on the 2nd Amendment or gun control, but it points out Isakson’s votes in favor of gun control laws. The inference is that Collins opposes them. Cain’s web site does not mention gun control in any way.

Two Democrats, Denise Majette and Mary Squires are running for the nomination in this race. Majette’s site does not mention gun control but she has supported gun control laws in her two years in the US House of Representatives

Squires site says: “I support legal gun ownership and am a gun owner myself. I believe that we should do all we can to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. Congress should close the loopholes that allow questionable sales at gun shows, permitting easy access to assault weapons that all too often end up on our city streets and in our schools.”

I am not sure what kind of gun she owns and wonder if there are any restrictions she would not support based on that statement. It sounds like something straight from Sara Brady.

Your vote in the primaries on July 20 are critically important. We must send a senator to Washington to replace Zell Miller that will continue to support gun owners. The next few years will be full of bills to restrict your right to own guns. If we don’t send a strong gun rights supporter to the Senate we will lose some of our rights.

I will be voting for Mac Collins in the primary and hopefully in the election. He was my state representative and has been my U.S. Congressman. I can not remember him ever voting for a bill to restrict my right to own a gun. He has earned my vote.

This July 4th I hope every house is flying an American Flag – and I hope every gun owner is ready to fight for the right to own a gun.