Where are the pro-gun supporters?

On Tuesday, WorldNetDaily published a story that ought to be a wake-up call for the nation’s 85 million gun owners.

Tuesday’s story followed an article published last Thursday about Citizens of America, a pro-gun “propaganda” group that is trying to get its pro-gun message out to the American public.

Both stories had a similar theme: Support for pro-gun causes is either drying up or was virtually non-existent in the first place.

In COA’s case, the group took in about $100,000 in all of last year, while trying to write, produce and distribute pro-gun ads for radio, TV and print media outlets who can, if they want, run these ads for free. In many cases, COA has had to pay to have these ads run.

Meanwhile, Tuesday’s story detailed the hardships of the Civil Liberties Defense Foundation, a pro-gun group of former Texas state lawmakers who decided — on their own — to file a countersuit against the forces that are suing the gun industry over bogus charges that the industry is somehow responsible (and financially liable) for gun-related crime and violence in 31 cities and municipalities.

As these two organizations struggle for funding, Handgun Control Inc. and other anti-gun groups have raked in millions of dollars for their anti-gun campaigns and legal assaults, which are compounded when you consider the free ride these groups get in most mainstream media outlets.

I have to say, I find that offensive in a nation that boasts more guns and gun owners than many other nations in the world combined — not to mention that we live in the most prosperous economy the world has ever seen, despite the recent downturn on Wall Street.

Why are these groups starving while so many gun owners and defenders of the Second Amendment scramble to find ways to blunt the assaults against firearms? That just doesn’t make a lick of sense to me.

For far too long, American gun owners have had a reason to complain. Nobody — and I mean nobody — was doing much of anything to educate the general public on the virtues of gun ownership. And no one — not even the large, well-established, gun-rights groups — had even contemplated a countersuit in support of the gun industry against the legal assault designed to, if nothing else, break these companies financially and put them out of business.

But since the formation of COA and the CLDF, gun owners and gun-rights supporters have had a place to go with a portion of their resources in support of organizations specifically set up to 1) educate the ignorant masses about the virtues of gun ownership; and 2) to do battle against the anti-gun forces in the courts.

Yet, few have stepped up to the plate.

If there are 85 million gun owners out there and every one of them donated 50 cents to each of these organizations, both would have tens of millions of dollars at their disposal to do the work most of us have prayed someone would do.

Individual contributors, however, are not alone in this appalling lack of support; where are the gun-industry contributors? Where is corporate America? Am I to believe that not a single U.S. company or corporation supports gun rights?

And, there are no millionaires out there who support gun rights and don’t want to see them all taken away? None?

Come on. That stretches credulity beyond all reasonable expectations.

Maybe most gun owners believe that since George W. Bush won the election, the assault on firearms will end.

Yeah, and Clinton really was an honest guy.

The assault may be delayed somewhat, but considering Republicans’ infatuation with bending over and cutting deals with leftist Democrats, I cannot reasonably believe that more assaults on gun rights are not forthcoming. The spirit of “bipartisanship,” you know.

These ongoing efforts will be successful, too, unless gun owning, gun rights-supporting people stop bitching and start putting some dough where their mouth is.

One dollar, five dollars, ten, a hundred, whatever. Something. Everyone can afford something. And divide it between these two groups.

I would never ask people to do something I would not be willing to do myself. I sent a contribution to COA earlier this week — my third overall — and will be sending CLDF some money too. It’s that important to me. Check’s in the mail, as they say.

I’m through relying on the gun rights “industry” — the NRA, for example — to step up and take the kind of action that needs to be taken. That’s why I don’t belong to any of these groups; they’re too worried about keeping their own nests feathered to worry about the plight of the rest of the “movement.”

Educating gun rights dummies and stopping the legal assault against the gun industry are two ends of the same priority right now, as far as I’m concerned.

I don’t mean to be harsh, but regular readers of this column know me — I’m plain-spoken, and there isn’t time for some fluffy appeal to gun-rights supporters to do what they already know they ought to be doing (and some have already done).

Meantime, you gun rights supporters in the corporate world need to open up your expense accounts to these two groups as well. Don’t be cheap — you can write it off. Ditto for you gun-supporting guys and gals who have made your fortune.

Go here: Citizens of America. And here: Civil Liberties Defense Foundation And give something to each, now.

Stop waiting for others to do it for you.