Taking on the NRA

Ray Schoenke, 65, was tackling the steep, rock-riddled slopes of Oregon’s Snake River chukar country in November with the same high threshold for pain that got him to the Super Bowl three decades ago. Following two English pointers through the near-vertical terrain of America’s deepest canyon was “the most exhausting and exhilarating hunt I’ve ever endured,” he told me over a beer that first evening. Yet it was a cakewalk compared with the former Washington Redskins lineman’s latest challenge:

Schoenke and Boston businessman John Rosenthal have founded the American Hunters and Shooters Association, which they describe as an NRA with a conscience.

“We vigorously support the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms and the hunting and sport-shooting heritage,” said Rosenthal, 50, a fit hockey fanatic who lugged a Browning 12-gauge Auto-5 during the three-day chukar hunting expedition.

“But we’re different than the NRA because we also support law enforcement and common-sense gun policies that reduce easy gun access to criminals and others who would misuse firearms.

“And we hope to be much more effective in supporting habitat conservation on public lands.”

Neither of the men tried to camouflage his past.

“I wouldn’t advocate national gun laws that go as far as those in Massachusetts,” said Rosenthal, who founded Stop Handgun Violence in 1995 and promoted tougher gun laws for the state. “But I’m proud to have had a small role in helping reduce by 50 percent the state’s deaths from firearms. In 2001, Massachusetts had the lowest firearm fatality rate in the nation: 2.99 per 100,000. The national average is 10.6.”

Schoenke, a worldwide sportsman who owns a 300-acre hunting preserve off Chesapeake Bay, has strong Democratic ties.

“Hell, I supported McGovern,” he said. “But I’m involved with AHSA because I don’t think the NRA represents the interests of most gun owners and sportsmen in terms of reasonable gun laws and conservation.

“I think that’s the reason there are 70 million gun owners and 20-some million hunters, but after 110 years, only 3 to 4 million of them belong to the NRA.”

Rosenthal, a gun owner, once served on the board of the Brady Campaign to Stop Gun Violence.

“When you’re a friend of the Kennedys, you can’t ignore the threat of guns in the wrong hands,” he said.

The Brady campaign was founded following the assassination attempt 25 years ago on President Ronald Reagan. Although Reagan healed from his wounds and returned to normal, Press Secretary Jim Brady was left paralyzed.

“When the Bradys asked me to be on their board, I couldn’t say no,” Rosenthal said. However, he said he quit the Brady board in 2004 over its extreme gun-control stance.

Schoenke’s wife also has been a member of the Brady board, and he’s found he can live with it – and with her.

Schoenke said his wife played a key role in his decision to attempt promoting an alternative to perhaps the most powerful sportsman’s related group in the country.

“Picture it,” he said. “I come home from hunting and my wife comes home from a meeting on gun violence. I have to explain the difference between misusing guns and having guns for hunting and self defense.

“My wife challenged me: ‘Can you be for reasonable gun control and still be a hunter?’ I said sure.

“I’m betting that a lot of hunters have those same discussions at home.”

Asked about the AHSA membership, Rosenthal said the number in November was in the hundreds.

“We’re a start-up organization,” he said. “At this point, the NRA has more executives than we have members. Membership hasn’t been our emphasis, yet. “

“We realize that we won’t have credibility with a lot of people until we have 100,000 members,” Schoenke said.

“I think we can help hunters because many Americans believe in the Second Amendment as well as public land and conservation. I think if we can talk about things differently, we can get past the polar extremes.”

Such talk has not escaped the NRA and the traditional gun press, which has targeted the AHSA founders in several features where they are billed as “wolves in sheep’s clothing” or “gun-grabbers in camo.”

“I’ve been a gun owner since I was 10,” said Schoenke. “To say hunting and shooting isn’t a passion of mine is B.S.”

He proved it in Oregon.

After the second day of scrambling through some of the roughest bird hunting country on the planet, Schoenke started comparing chukar hunting to playing pro football.

Before moving to the Washington Redskins, Schoenke played for the Green Bay Packers and their legendary coach, Vince Lombardi.

At practice two days after a linebacker had buried his helmet into his chest and split his sternum, Ray Schoenke, new to the team, was greeted with trademark delicacy in the locker room by Lombardi.

“Schoenke, huh?” Lombardi growled. “You’re the one with the pussy injury. Get out on the field.”

And he did.

But gaining yardage against the NRA could be more difficult and the hits are going to smart, he acknowledged.

“In Washington, D.C., a lot of lobbyists, they look at me and think I’m crazy,” he said. ” ‘Why take on the NRA?’ they ask. As a hunter, I’ve been aware of what the NRA has been doing and I felt they were hurting hunters and their image.

“When you get to my age, a lot of people really don’t have the energy to make a difference,” he said. “But deep down, we all want to make a difference.”