By Chad D. Baus

In March 2008, a Gallup poll found that an overwhelming majority of the United States public—73%—believes that the Second Amendment guarantees the right of Americans to own firearms. Yet, to hear the Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence (formerly Handgun Control Inc.) tell it, America voted overwhelmingly in support of gun control just a few months later.

Consider the following from a Brady bunch report published just hours after the polls closed last November, and entitled "Guns and the 2008 Elections - Common Sense Gun Laws Won, the NRA Lost, & What it Means.":

The United States Sportsmen's Alliance (USSA) is leading the way with a major effort to respond to a negative article on hunting that ran in the January 12, 2009 issue of Newsweek magazine. In order to combat the false impression left by the piece, the USSA reached out to groups and wildlife management professionals nationwide to rebut its flawed premise.

The article, titled "It's Survival of the Weak and Scrawny" is a full-scale attack on hunting as a conservation tool. In the piece, the author quotes a biologist from Quebec, Canada with the theory that hunting leads to inferior animals being left to breed, thus leading to what is describes as "evolution in reverse."

Recognizing the flawed premise of the article, the USSA drafted a letter to the editors at Newsweek making clear that the conclusions asserted in the article are not the consensus that has been reached by the wildlife management community. The USSA also pointed out that anti-hunting groups would likely use the article’s conclusions to advance their agenda. Further, the USSA reached out to numerous wildlife management professionals and organizations, encouraging immediate responses to the article.