There was a good chance of getting rid of Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) in 2010 until Wayne LaPierre of the NRA descended on Nevada and endorsed the liberal stalwart. Reid used a lot of tax-payer money to build a state-of-the-art gun range in Nevada, the Clark County Shooting Park. Why did he do it? To buy off the NRA and Second Amendment supporters. It’s not like Reid’s 2010 opponent  was anti-Second Amendment.

The following is from a 2010 story in The Las Vegas Sun: “Everyone has said this is the greatest park in the United States of America, but I say it’s the greatest gun park in the world,” Reid said. “I know how you worked,” LaPierre said to Reid before turning back to the audience. “[This] would not have opened without the work of Sen. Reid.”

It shouldn’t have opened using tax-payer money. Why should money taken from people in Georgia where I live be used to fund a gun park in Nevada. If the people of Nevada want a gun park, let them pay for it. Better yet, let gun enthusiasts use their own money to fund the $61 million project.

LaPaierre and the NRA are compromised:

“After all, [the NRA] gave Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid nearly $5,000 of their members’ cash to go along with an ‘A’ rating in 2010.
“Now [Reid’s] twisting the arms of U.S. Senators to stay in line for Obama’s anti-gun schemes.
“Democrats Mark Warner, Bob Casey and Joe Manchin all received high marks from the NRA, and are now also jumping off the bandwagon, as well.”

The NRA is the establishment gun rights group. There are better ones out there. Consider Gun Owners of America headed by Larry Pratt.

Ann Coulter took on LaPierre as a spokesman for the Second Amendment:

“[Ann] Coulter suggested LaPierre and other gun supporters should become familiar with the works of John Lott, whose 1998 book ‘More Guns, Less Crime’ makes an argument against limiting the number of firearms.

“The NRA needs a better spokesman. I was watching Wayne LaPierre on ‘Meet The Press’ this weekend and — is he the only gun rights supporter who has not read John Lott’s book?’ Coulter wondered.

“When he was asked by David Gregory, ‘is your objective, of the NRA, to have as few people killed as possible — something to that effect — a few children killed?’ There was hemming and hawing … the answer is: Get this right-wingers, get this gun supporters: yes, yes, yes!”

It’s not all about gun rights. Single-issue voting is dangerous. Look we got in 2010 with the election of Harry Reid for another Senate term.