The American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA) was a United States–based non-profit501(c)(4) organization which operated from 2005 to 2010. The group described itself as a national grassroots organization for responsible gun ownership and advocated for increasedgun control. The organization's president, Ray Schoenke, said the AHSA was intended to bridge the gap between urban liberals and rural gun owners, but closed down due to a lack of support from the Obama administration.[2]
The AHSA described itself as "... a national grassroots organization committed to safe and responsible gun ownership" and "... a mainstream group of hunters who are looking to belong to a gun owners association that doesn't have a radical agenda",[1] and as a moderate, common-sense advocacy organization. It favored most restrictions on firearms, but believed that little progress will be made until gun owners are allowed to bring their common-sense perspective to the table.[4]
In March 2008,Brady Campaign PresidentPaul Helmke stated that he saw his organization's issues "as complementary to" those of the AHSA.[5]
Despite the similarity in name, AHSA had no ties to the field marksmanship promoting organization, the Hunter's Shooting Association (HSA).
In June 2006, Executive Director Bob Ricker formally introduced AHSA at a press conference at the annual conference of the Outdoor Writers Association of America.[6]Ricker said at this conference that the NRA and other 2nd Amendment rights organizations did not address the specific concerns of hunters – protecting hunting lands and wildlife habitats – which led to the creation of AHSA.[7]In 2007, PresidentRay Schoenke addressed theMayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition.[8]As of October 19, 2010, The AHSA website has been taken down. President Schoenke stated that the group was closed because of lack of membership.[2]
Ray Schoenke, Founding President. A former football player for theWashington Redskins, Schoenke ran for Governor ofMaryland in 1998 as a Democrat. He is a millionaire and has contributed to numerous Democratic politicians and causes.[10] Schoenke has donated toHandgun Control, Inc., which actively lobbies to ban some types of firearms,[11] and he was on the Maryland Governor's Commission on Gun Violence in 1996.[12]
Joseph J. Vince Jr., a member of the Board of Directors is the former chief of theBATF's crime guns analysis branch. Currently, he is a principal ofCrime Gun Solutions. Crime Gun Solutions has worked for theBrady Center, providing data analysis supportive of the Federal Assault Weapons Act,[13] and has provided ballistics evidence and analysis in lawsuits against firearm dealers.[14] He was a signer on a letter submitted to Congress opposing theProtection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act[15]
Jody Powell, co-chairman of the AHSA Advisory Board
A. Austin Dorr, co-chairman of the AHSA Advisory Board
John E. Rosenthal, a founding member of AHSA who left in 2007,[16] is one of the founders ofStop Handgun Violence, a group which has been influential in instituting strong restrictions on the ownership of firearms in the state of Massachusetts.[17]
The AHSA endorsed U.S. Senator Barack Obama for president in the 2008 general election:[18]AHSA endorsed Obama based mainly on Obama's vote for theDisaster Recovery Personal Protection Act.[19] In 2008, the Obama campaign paid for Shoenke to travel to 40 events in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and Colorado to address pro-gun voters.[20]
The AHSA endorsed the following congressional candidates:
Harry Teague [D] (New Mexico – District 2)[24] – Harry Teague's campaign declined the endorsement.[25]
ASHA officials testified in favor of gun control legislation, such as Washington State Bill SB-5197, which aims to restrict private transactions at gun shows and create a database of gun owners.[26]
ASHA supported the call by the coalition ofMayors Against Illegal Guns to repeal theTiahrt Amendment, which restricts gun trace data.[27] Repeal of the amendment is supported by more than 20 national and state police organizations[28] but opposed by theBATFE andFraternal Order of Police, on the grounds that repeal would jeopardize lives and law enforcement operations.[29][30]
AHSA joined in the amicus curiae brief of Maj. Gen. John D. Altenburg Jr., et al., in the Supreme Court case ofD.C. v Heller, arguing that the individual right of the people to keep and bear arms enhances the collective goal of supporting national defense, and that the dichotomy between individual right argued by Heller and collective militia right argued by D.C. is false: the Second Amendment protects both.[31]
TheNational Rifle Association of America (NRA) criticized the AHSA for its members' associations with other gun-control organizations and gun-control legislation. NRA-ILA Executive DirectorChris Cox characterized the AHSA as "the latest front group for the anti-gun movement."[32] In August 2005, the NRA said about the AHSA "they want to allow theFBI to keep records on law-abiding citizens who buy guns and put an end to gun shows as we know them. Not to mention the fact that they want to regulate.50 caliber rifles in the same way thatmachine guns are regulated."[33]
^Ray Schoenke (2008-09-19)."American Hunters and Shooters Association Responds to its Critics". NewWest Travel and Outdoors - Guest Commentary.Archived from the original on 22 November 2008. Retrieved2008-11-07.Ray's wife Nancy is also connected politically. Like many wives of gun owners she is an independent thinker and does not like guns. She took a seat on the board of the Brady Campaign but soon became frustrated with the group's lack of progress. Ray told her that progress would not be made until gun owners were allowed to bring their common sense perspective to the table. As a result, Nancy closed the family checkbook, resigned from the Brady board, and encouraged Ray to start AHSA.
^"Senate Bill Report of SB-5197"(PDF). Washington State Senate Committee On Labor, Commerce, Research & Development. 2007-02-27. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 2008-09-10. Retrieved2008-11-08.This bill represents the first step to restricting private arms sales in this state. This bill stands for a registration database of Washington gun owners...If this bill became effective, private firearm transactions brokered at gun shows could not be completed until several days after the event ends.
^Chris W. Cox (2006-08-14)."Anti-Gunners Don Camo As Elections Loom". National Rifle Association - Institute for Legislative Action (self-published). Archived fromthe original on 2008-08-31. Retrieved2008-11-08.Seeking to pick up the baton dropped by the ham-fisted Americans for Gun Safety, the American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA) has arrived on the scene to become the latest front group for the anti-gun movement in America.
