ROCKY MOUNTAIN GUN OWNERS

RMGO launches radio spots to educate, lobby 4th Congressional District Candidate Jeff Bedingfield

Wednesday, July 10, 2002 -- Rocky Mountain Gun Owners today launched a radio advertisement effort to force 4th Congressional District Candidate Jeff Bedingfield, a Greeley trial lawyer, to answer specific questions about his position on firearms issues.

"Jeff Bedingfield has voiced his support for a number of gun controls, and remains silent on others," said RMGO Chairman Damien Veatch. "With no voting record to prove his position on gun issues, Jeff Bedingfield is very dangerous to gun owners' rights."

Bedingfield told a group of Morgan County Republicans that he hadn't taken a position on the biggest gun issue facing the next Congress: the reauthorization, or repeal, of the largest gun ban in history.  The Feinstein Semi-Automatic ban, pushed hard by President Clinton and Sarah Brady, and enacted in 1994, sunsets in 2004.  That means Congress must either vote to reauthorize the ban -- many gun owners fear it will be broadened to include every semi-automatic rifle and shotgun -- or allow it to sunset.  Gun control advocates in Congress are unlikely to let it pass by without a fight.

"Bedingfield is endorsed by politicians who supported the 1994 ban, and he won't take a public position on it," Veatch said.  "Our attempt is to flush out his position on the Clinton Semi-Auto Ban and other gun control issues.  Our radio ads will be a great education tool, letting a wishy-washy politician know that banning firearms is not the answer to crime or terrorism."

The ads, which run across the Fourth Congressional District's more prominent radio stations, are scheduled to run through this week.

Rocky Mountain Gun Owners is Colorado's largest state-based gun rights lobby.

Click here to listen to the actual radio spots

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