Newt Gingrich's record disturbing to home state gun owners Georgia gun owners long aware of Newt's anti-gun record Kennesaw, GA – The 6,000 members and supporters of the premier grassroots gun rights group in Georgia, Georgia Gun Owners, began buzzing the phone lines of the Newt 2012 Iowa campaign headquarters (515-468-9225) demanding Mr. Gingrich apologize to gun owners for his more than two-decade history of supporting gun control.
"Georgia Gun Owners knows Newt's history of gun control. He represented parts of our state for 20 years. He's been playing both sides of the gun issue as long as we can remember.
Take a look at the Marietta (GA) Daily Journal from September 16, 1996. The headline is 'Gingrich supports gun ban.' I remember Newt's betrayal of gun owners back in the 90s like it was yesterday," said D.R. Leonard, Political Director of Georgia Gun Owners.
While Newt used the institutional gun lobby as a mouthpiece to convince millions of gun owners nationwide that "as long as he is Speaker, no gun-control legislation is going to move in committee or on the House floor," he was working behind the scenes to pass gun control.
In 1996, Newt Gingrich turned his back on gun owners and voted for the anti-gun Brady Campaign's Lautenberg Gun Ban, which strips the Second Amendment rights of citizens involved in misdemeanor domestic violence charges or temporary protection orders -- in some cases for actions as minor as spanking a child.
Gingrich also stood shoulder to shoulder with Nancy Pelosi to pass the "Criminal Safezones Act" which prevents armed citizens from defending themselves in certain arbitrary locations. Virtually all Americans know that Criminal Safezones don't protect law-abiding citizens, but actually protect the criminals who ignore them.
"But the biggest knife that Newt plunged into the back of all Americans and gun owners who wish to defend themselves and their families, was his coming out in support of a national thumbprint database for gun owners," said Mr. Leonard.
"I think we prefer to go to instant check on an immediate basis and try to accelerate implementing instant checks so that you could literally check by thumbprint... Instant check is a much better system than the Brady process." -- Newt Gingrich, June 27, 1997
"Newt Gingrich is no friend of gun owners. I wish Georgia Gun Owners had a mountaintop to scream this information from. We just want like-minded voters in early primary states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina to be aware of this.
Newt is trying really hard to play both sides of the Second Amendment. He's a professional politician. But as the old saying goes, the proof is in the pudding. It's in his record. His own words and votes. He's a danger to our Second Amendment rights and privacy. The members of Georgia Gun Owners know this. We want ALL Americans to know this as well," said Mr. Leonard, Political Director of Georgia Gun Owners.
For more information about Newt's anti-gun record, please contact Ashley Rodriguez: