|
|
|
ONLINE FEATURES
Book Reviews
BW Video
Columnists
Interactive Gallery
Newsletters
Past Covers
Philanthropy
Podcasts
Special Reports
BLOGS
Auto Beat
Bangalore Tigers
Blogspotting
Brand New Day
Byte of the Apple
Economics Unbound
Eye on Asia
Fine On Media
Green Biz
Hot Property
Investing Insights
Management IQ
NEXT: Innovation
NussbaumOnDesign
Tech Beat
Working Parents
TECHNOLOGY
J.D. Power Ratings
Product Reviews
Tech Stats
Wildstrom: Tech Maven
AUTOS
Home Page
Auto Reviews
Classic Cars
Car Care & Safety
Hybrids
INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads |  |
OCTOBER 18, 2004
Stalking Deer Hunter Dads Why Kerry's attempts to woo gun owners are missing the mark so far Van Knutson seems like the kind of guy who'll be voting Democratic on Nov. 2. The beefy middle-school teacher from Sturtevant, Wis., is a member of the National Education Assn., the union that sent more delegates to the Democratic National Convention than any other. He's no great fan of the Administration's education policy, either. But come November, Knutson, 48, will be casting his ballot for George W. Bush. The President seems like the genuine article, says Knutson, while John Kerry comes off as a phony. What really frosts Knutson, who with his brother, Todd, owns 13 guns, including a Thompson submachine gun, are news photos of Kerry "parading about" in blaze orange carrying a shotgun. Hunting is a near-religion in rural areas of Wisconsin, as well as the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, and Minnesota, where the opening day of deer season is a semi-official school and factory holiday. And at least judging from "Deer Hunter Dads" in the Badger State and a poll in Pennsylvania, Kerry is doing almost as badly with the gun vote as Al Gore did in 2000. United Auto Workers member John Fredricks, 48, sums up the distaste that the rod and gun club set have for Kerry and the kindred feelings they have for Bush. Waiting patiently for Bush to arrive at a Janesville (Wis.) campaign stop, Fredricks explains: "Kerry has voted 50 times against the Second Amendment and then he goes out and has a photo op at some game preserve." As for the President, "He seems like the kind of guy you can sit down and have a beer with," says Fredricks. "He doesn't have five mansions -- he has a ranch, and from the looks of it, it needs some work." Indeed, despite statements supporting gun ownership, Senator Kerry has consistently voted for gun controls. That has led to "F" ratings from the National Rifle Assn. and Gun Owners of America and an endorsement from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence gives Kerry a 100% rating, citing his votes against civil immunity for gun manufacturers, for background checks for private sales at gun shows, and for expanded restrictions on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines -- votes that gun owners in Wisconsin can recite from memory. Polls bear out the hunters' aversion to Kerry. A Sept. 17 Keystone Poll shows Bush leading in Pennsylvania by 66%-27% among gun owners. Kerry is ahead 53%-39% among the unarmed. With so many gun owners in the state, Bush enjoys a slim overall lead. "This state is just inundated with NRA members, and their support [for Bush] is deep and strong," says G. Terry Madonna, the survey's director. A nationwide Zogby poll of gun owners last December shows they voted for Bush over Gore 65%-26%, while Gore won with nonowners by a slimmer margin of 48%-39%. Gore's enthusiasm for gun control is blamed for his loss of usually Democratic West Virginia. Elsewhere, gun ownership -- and tolerance for firearms -- is on the rise. Nationwide, between 43% and 48% of adults live in households with guns, according to recent polls. Not surprisingly, as ownership rose above 200 million weapons in some 90 million households during the 1990s, backing for gun control fell steadily. Since 2000, support has dropped from 67% to 57%. An outright ban on handguns was opposed by 62% of Americans in a 2000 poll, up from 50% in 1987. Kerry hasn't exactly come across as John the Deerslayer. In Wisconsin, he said in an interview that he likes to "crawl around on my stomach," stalking deer with his double-barrel 12-gauge shotgun. Wisconsin hunters, who shoot deer with rifles from a blind or tree stand, found Kerry's a curious and unlikely technique. And the Kerry campaign responded to an Outdoor Life magazine query recently by saying that Kerry's favorite gun is a "Chinese assault rifle." After it was pointed out that private ownership of an automatic assault rifle without a $750 federal permit is a felony, the campaign quickly retracted the statement, insisting the favorite rifle was actually a bolt-action, 100-year-old "relic" from Russia. Mick Beatovic, co-owner of Badger Outdoors Inc., a West Milwaukee (Wis.) shooting range and gun store, says a customer came in recently demanding to know who had a car outside with a "Kerry for President" bumper sticker. The offending party owned up and quickly left amid angry mumbling. Bush has an advantage, of course, in not having a 20-year Senate voting record to nitpick. This allows the President to have it both ways: He vows that he would have signed an extension of the assault weapons ban when it expired in September, but not a peep was heard from the White House when no bill appeared on his desk. Meanwhile, Kerry has pushed noisily for a renewal. Bush also has a positive message, says Chris Winkler, a member of Sportsmen for Bush in Caledonia, Wis. Winkler, a 35-year-old independent, praises the Administration for seeking to increase access for hunters to public lands. "It's getting harder and harder to even find a place to hunt, so public access is a big issue," he says. That also means more snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles allowed into otherwise inaccessible lands -- an idea opposed by environmental groups but favored by hunters, who need a way to haul 120-lb. deer carcasses out of the woods. Kerry may be getting the message, finally. His campaign has issued a "sportsmen bill of rights" that supports private ownership of rifles and shotguns, including semiautomatics (without mentioning handguns). He also backs programs to boost access to private lands for hunters and fishermen, as well as protections for wetlands and wildlife habitat. On Sept. 27, he told a Spring Green (Wis.) audience: "I know hunting is valued up here in Wisconsin. You're going to hear them try to gang up on me on guns.... The truth is, I'm a gun owner. I'm a hunter. I've hunted since I was 12, 13 years old." No matter. NRA Executive Vice-President Wayne LaPierre says he's going to make Kerry's voting record the issue with an "intense" ad blizzard, including 30-minute TV infomercials and mailings aimed at 50,000 gun and fishing clubs. One spot that began airing on Oct. 4 features a poodle wearing a "Kerry" sweater and a pink bow. The voiceover intones: "That dog don't hunt."  By Paul Magnusson
BW MALL
SPONSORED LINKS
Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.
Buy a link now! Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | |
 Copyright 2004, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.Terms of Use | Privacy Notice |
Printer-Friendly Version