NRA in Louisville: McConnell targets gun control advocates, Obama

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville): Politicker Photo

LOUISVILLE -- Kentucky's senior U.S. senator, Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville), was honored by the National Rifle Association at Friday afternoon's NRA Leadership forum in Louisville with the annual "Defender of the Constitution" award from the organization. After receiving the award, McConnell's speech went a long way toward showing why he was in the group's good graces.

"I happen to believe more guns in lawful hands means less crime," said McConnell. "I'm sleeping well tonight knowing the NRA is in town."

McConnell also spoke at length about the organization's history, and included an anecdote about the NRA providing 7,000 firearms to Great Britain -- under threat of a German invasion -- shortly before the United States' entry into the World War II.

But it was not all stories from McConnell. He also hammered away at those who would impose restrictions on gun ownership, and his targets ranged from the judiciary to the Democratic presidential candidates -- specifically U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.

"It's a sad fact that in some quarters today, part of the job description on non-elected judges is to invent new meaning in the words of the Constutition," McConnell said.

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville): Politicker Photo

McConnell also had harsh words for those who did not share the NRA's view of the Second Amendment.

"Their opposition to it suggests that -- unlike the Founders -- they have a greater fear of their fellow citizens then they do of the state."

"On the one side are people like Howard Dean and Barack Obama," McConnell continued. "They are the heirs of a centuries old line of thinkers who think the elite should diagnose and cure the ills of the many."

The senator, who is the chamber's minority leader, criticized attempts to implement gun control legislation as unconstitutional.

"They have a right to own opinions, but not to their own version of the Constitution," said McConnell. "They persist in advancing a reading of the constitution that the men who signed it would never have understood."

Like several of Friday's forum speakers before him, McConnell referred again to Obama's infamous "bitter" comments made before an audience at a San Francisco fundraiser.

"It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or anti-pathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations," said Obama at the early April event.

Claiming "liberal" opinion is out of line with mainstream American preferences, McConnell claimed "liberals in Washington often keep their real opinions to themselves."

"Occasionally -- just occasionally -- those opinions slip out.. at cocktail parties in San Francisco or New York," McConnell said.

He then said sentiment such as Obama's "bitter" comments represented Obama's genuine beliefs.

"Reporters usually refer to these slips as Gaffes or blunders," said McConnell. "Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I think a better word for it would be ‘honesty.'"

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