Romney chooses strong Second Amendment advocate and avid hunter as running mate

by Chad D. Baus

For gun owners who have been less than enthused to have another "so-so" Republican nominee to face the vehemently anti-gun Barack Obama, Mitt Romney's choice of Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate is sure to lift their spirits.

Much like Gov. Sarah Palin in 2008, Ryan brings a strong understanding of Second Amendment rights and hunter's issues to the ticket.

Ryan has been both A-rated and endorsed by the NRA-PVF since at least 2002 (the archives aren't available farther back).

Gun Owners of America also gives Ryan an A.

According to OnTheIssues.org, Ryan's voting record is stellar.

• Voted YES on prohibiting product misuse lawsuits on gun manufacturers. (Oct 2005)
• Voted YES on prohibiting suing gunmakers & sellers for gun misuse. (Apr 2003)
• Voted YES on decreasing gun waiting period from 3 days to 1. (Jun 1999)
• Rated A by the NRA, indicating a pro-gun rights voting record. (Dec 2003)
• National cross-state standard for concealed carry. (Jan 2009)
• Ban gun registration & trigger lock law in Washington DC. (Mar 2007)
• Allow reloading spent military small arms ammunition. (Apr 2009)

Ryan is a co-sponsor of both the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act (HR822), and the Collectible Firearms Protection Act (HR615), which seeks to allow M-1 Garands and M-1 Carbines to be repatriated without State Department approval (i.e. Ryan wants to reverse the Obama administration's ban on the importation of these historic collectibles).

Ryan is a bow-hunter, and a rifle and shotgun owner, and as the old adage goes, pictures say a thousand words. One need look no further than images of his time afield to know that Paul Ryan is clearly one of us. This bow hunter doesn't just put on blaze orange for photo ops, ala John Kerry.

With the fate of the Second Amendment hanging on which man gets to name the next Supreme Court justice, I already knew I was going to vote against Barack Obama this November. Thankfully, Mitt Romney's pick of Paul Ryan gives gun owners reason to look forward to voting FOR the Romney/Ryan ticket as much as they are looking forward to voting against Obama.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Vice Chairman.

(Special thanks to the blog OnlyGunsandMoney for many of the research points noted above)