Coverage of Huckabee’s Speech at the NRA Event

Gov. Huckabee just delivered an outstanding speech to the NRA. The 2nd Amendment is an anchor issue for me and Mike Huckabee just reminded me why I support him. I will post the video as soon as I can find it. But, in the mean time, I will update with media coverage of the event.

From The Campaign Spot on NRO:

Huckabee, Fluent in the NRA’s Language

Fred wowed ‘em, the crowd loved McCain’s rejoinder to the Code Pink protester, Mitt Romney’s video went over well, and Rudy Giuliani earned their respect. But the guy who absolutely looked the most at home before the NRA today was probably Mike Huckabee.

Beginning with a jab at Rosie O’Donnell, and saying that because he was underdressed, he felt “as out of place as George Soros at an American Legion post”, Huckabee used humor and homespun anecdotes to prove his bona fides as “one of them.”

He made a fairly sharp observation when he mildly mocked other politicians who answer a question about the Second Amendment with hunting stories, pointing out that the Second Amendment, while guaranteeing a hunter’s right to own a firearm, is not about establishing a right to hunt, it is about a right to own a firearm for personal protection. The NRA is made up of two distinct groups (with a bit of an overlap) – hunters (usually owning shotguns and rifles) and those who own handguns for personal protection. The latter is often forgotten about, lives all over the country, and is often not terribly motivated by rhetoric about hunting.

Huckabee then followed that story, of course, with a hunting story of his own, about successfully hunting an antelope in Wyoming in snowy, windy weather with his Weatherby 300 mag.

He hit all the organization’s key, lesser-known issues: He denouncing the seizure of gun owners’ legal firearms in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He said he was, as far as he knew, the first governor to have a concealed carry permit. He talked about a shotgun with a rusty barrel that he received from his father that he wouldn’t sell for a million dollars. (Then he said, “okay, for a million, I guess you can have it.”) He said that “watching ducks land on a lake in Arkansas in the winter is about the closest to Heaven as you can find on this earth… and as someone who believes, according to my faith, I will go to Heaven when I die, I am pretty sure that there is duck hunting in Heaven!” Needless to say, the crowd loved it.

It wasn’t all jokes and one-liners, of course. He almost got the crowd misty-eyed when he talked about his late father’s gun, and how fathers like to pass down memories to their children, and how he hopes to pass on his guns to his children. He concluded, “I can’t imagine any father saying to his child, ‘when I die, I’m going to leave you my PlayStation.”

When Huckabee responded to a question about UN efforts to restrict gun ownership by suggesting he wouldn’t be upset if “the whole thing broke off from Manhattan Island and started to float away into the East River,” he was greeted with people leaping to their feet for a standing ovation and roars of “YEAAAHHH!!!”

From the American Spectator Blog:

Mike Huckabee just gave a masterful performance at the NRA conference, not only taking jabs at his opponents on gun rights and asserting his support for the Second Amendment, but doing it with good humor. Although he didn’t put it in these words, the underlying message of his speech was: “I’m one of you.”

He took aim at both Rudy and Romney when he suggested to the audience that they should “look at past behavior” to get a credible idea of whether you can believe candidates and understand their future performance. In obvious jabs at Romney, he said of the NRA that “I didn’t just join last year,” and pointed out that when politicians bring up the issue of hunting when talking about gun rights it’s obvious that they don’t understand gun rights. He said he was a hunter himself “not just 50 years ago”–again, another jab at Romney. Then he followed the rule of show, don’t tell–recounting his own stories hunting ducks, turkey, and antelope. He demonstrated his knowledge by referring to the details of the specific guns he was using. But he said the Second Amendment was about a lot more, including people’s right to defend themselves. Also, he got sentimental, talking about how fathers hand firearms down to to their sons. He has a rustly old gun, that his father gave him, and it brings back a lot of childhood memories. “I can’t see a father saying, ‘Son, when I die, I’m going to give you my Playstation,’” he joked, generating laughs.

He also knew exactly what NRA members get passionate about on the policy front, especially when attacking the U.N.’s vendetta against guns. “We shouldn’t be too disappointed if the whole thing would break off and float away on the East River,” he declared, leading to a standing ovation. Also, he talked about the gun confiscation post-Katrina. Also, taking issue with Giuliani’s new federalist approach on gun rights, he said, “I don’t think the Second Amendment hase geographic boundries.” He blasted such an idea as “laughable” and “absurd” asking the audience to imagine if the freedom of press changed based on location. When asked if he supports waiting periods, he not only said no, that he supports instant background checks–but he personalized it. “Waiting periods only inconvinience guys like me,” he lamented. “When I go shopping, I want what I want, and I want it now.”

UPDATE: Grades from The Campaign Spot on NRO:

The Quick Read on How The NRA Crowd Liked The Candidates

Basing my grades entirely on crowd reactions at today’s NRA “Celebration of American Values,” I’d grade McCain B+, Thompson A, Rudy B+, Huckabee A+. I will give Romney and Richardson C+s for their video presentations – they’re well done for what they are, but no video can command an audience’s attention the way a candidate in the flesh can.