Reply #50: Just sent them the following:

[benEzra]

Fighting to ban the most popular small-caliber civilian rifles in the United States does NOT help Dems here in NC, or in other swing states.

According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reports, less than 3% of U.S. murders involve ANY type of rifle, including those the repubs at the Brady Campaign call "assault weapons."

PLEASE remove the call for new rifle bans from the 2008 party platform. More Americans lawfully own "assault weapons," so called, than hunt, and half of us are Dems and indies. 4 out of 5 gun owners are nonhunters, and the guns you wish to ban are the most popular centerfire target rifles and defensive carbines in the nation.

The "Dems'll-take-yer-guns" meme launched in 1994 was finally laid to rest in 2006. Please don't resurrect it with the '08 platform. Leave it to the states, and let's focus on the issues that are truly important.

Thank you for your time, and have a good day.