Republicans Think Gun Owners Could Swing the Election — If They Can Get Them Registered to Vote

Pro-gun groups are pushing to get gun owners to the ballot box in swing states. The effort is on the Trump campaign’s radar.

Republicans believe they have found an electoral edge in states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — that’s if they actually get people to the ballot box.

A turnout effort from the political action fund associated with the United States Concealed Carry Association is targeting gun owners who are not registered to vote. USCCA has over 850,000 members, 70,000 of which live in Pennsylvania or Wisconsin.

“We are looking at a replay of 2016 or 2020 where, essentially, 40 to 70,000 votes in the swing states decided who the president of the United States was,” Ford O’Connell, a GOP strategist, told NOTUS. “When you’re fighting for inches on the electoral map, the more of these folks you turn out to vote, the better off it is for Donald Trump.”

USCCA doesn’t have specific data that shows how many of its members are not registered to vote. But surveys about nonvoting gun owners have convinced the organization that a considerable number of its members are likely not registered to vote. The campaign includes emails, events and ads, pointing members to an online voter-registration tool that ultimately redirects users to their state’s voter-information website.

“It’s ultimately an opportunity to engage the hundreds of thousands of responsible gun owners across the country ahead of the November elections, both current USCCA members and other gun owners across the country,” said Katie Pointer Baney, executive director of the USCCA-FLS Action Fund.

The effort has caught the attention of the Trump campaign. Pointer Baney sat down with Trump campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita at the Republican National Convention and spoke about voter turnout among gun owners.

Read the full article from NOTUS HERE