NAT5IONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION ENDORSES JO ANN EMERSON

The National Rifle Association has taken dead aim at the 8th District congressional race and endorsed 8th District congressional candidate Jo Ann Emerson.

The independent/Republican welcomed the NRA's endorsement Thursday at a morning news conference at the Drury Lodge in Cape Girardeau.

Tanya Metaksa, NRA's chief lobbyist, spoke at the news conference. Metaksa is executive director of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action.

The NRA has nearly 10,000 members in the 8th District and almost 3 million members nationwide.

Emerson said, "The NRA is one of the finest grassroots organizations in America."

There are a lot of hunters in Southeast Missouri, said Emerson, who was a national rifle champion at the age of 14.

The NRA endorsed Emerson even though her chief opponent, Democrat Emily Firebaugh, also publicly supports the rights of gun owners.

Metaksa said the NRA is backing Emerson because the group believes she will follow in the footsteps of her late husband, Bill Emerson.

He served as 8th District congressman for 16 years and was a strong supporter of gun owners' rights and the NRA.

Metaksa said President Clinton talks of supporting gun owners' rights, but has done his best to undermine them.

Emerson and Firebaugh both oppose the Brady Bill's five-day wait on gun purchases.

Both want tougher sentences for criminals who use guns to commit crimes.

Emerson wants to curb endless death-row appeals and require convicts to make restitution for their crimes.

Both Emerson and Firebaugh want computer background checks to be implemented nationwide.

Metaksa said the NRA favors such a system because it allows for instantaneous background checks of persons attempting to buy weapons.

Twenty-one states have such background checks. Missouri doesn't have such a system.

Firebaugh said such a network would make it harder for criminals to obtain firearms while making sure law abiding gun owners aren't burdened by long waiting periods.

But Metaksa said President Clinton and others favor continuing the Brady Bill when it ends in two years.

"They want to make everybody wait," Metaksa said. Their goal is to make it as difficult as possible for people to buy guns and ultimately reduce the availability of guns, she said.

There are an estimated 60 million guns in private hands nationwide, Metaksa said.

That doesn't include weapons in the hands of the military. "It doesn't count any bazookas," she said.

Emerson said the nation should go after the "crooks and thugs" instead of law-abiding gun owners.

"We cannot allow our cherished Second Amendment right to fall to the will of liberal members of Congress,' she said.

Firebaugh too voiced support for the Second Amendment in a news release.

"Everybody fondly remembers when they inherited their daddy's rifle or shotgun.

"The federal government should put less effort into messing with traditions and violating the constitutional right of its citizens, and more into disarming and punishing criminals," Firebaugh said.