The Advocates with Richard J. Garfunkel on WVOX – AM Radio 1460- “New Day, New Hour.”
Wednesday, December 12, 2007, at 12:00 Noon, I am hosting my show “The Advocates” on WVOX- 1460 AM on your dial, or you can listen to its live streaming at www.wvox.com. One can call the show at 914-636-0110 to reach us on the radio. My special guest this week is Richard Feldman, author of the riveting new book. Ricochet, Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist, published by John Wiley & Sons, and will be available in 2008
Today’s discussion will center on, Mr. Feldman’s rise through GOP politics, and his association and experiences, with both the National Rifle Association and the gun lobby in America. His revelatory book will reveal his education about guns, his philosophy about gun ownership and the need for people to be concerned about their self-defense, and his gradual disillusionment with the current leadership of the National Rifle Association.
Richard Feldman was raised in Nassau County, and attended Boston University, before graduating from Union College in the early 1970’s. He is a practicing lawyer and he believes that the NRA is not an effective advocate for its member’s interests. He articulates the case that their obsessive desire for power, their scare-mongering and drive for money, undermines reasonable solutions that would not only protect gun owner’s rights while reducing accidental shootings and gun violence. Ricochet is not a confessional tell-all about the evils of gun ownership. It is in reality an expose of the NRA, and how it has betrayed the trust of legitimate gun owners and sportsman, who cherish the Second Amendment. Feldman believes that the NRA has “inadvertently strengthened the hand of those who would take your guns away.”
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution: Right of people to bear arms not to be infringed. “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
Meanwhile the mission of the “Advocates” is to bring to the public differing views on current “public policy “ issues. “Public policy,” therefore, is what we as a nation legally and traditionally follow. Over the years the “public policy” of the United States has changed or has been modified greatly. As an example, “free public education” is the public policy of the United States. Also, over time great struggles have ensued over the control of the direction of “public policy” For example: free trade vs. protectionism, slavery vs. emancipation, state’s rights vs. Federalism, and an all-volunteer armed forces or the “draft.”
Richard J. Garfunkel