The rejection by Washington citizens of Initiative 676 is a historic victory for safety, responsibility and freedom. This is the most significant Second Amendment ballot event in 15 years--as profound as the defeat of the Proposition 15 handgun ban in California in 1982. If passed, I-676 would have given Washington the most restrictive state handgun laws in the country. Indeed, 676's defeat is the political story of the year.

NRA and the WeCARE coalition trounced Initiative 676--a restrictive gun owner licensing scheme--with 71% of the vote. Save for USA Today and a brief mention on the wire, the national press was silent on the political story of Election 97. Had 676 passed, every NRA member in America knows what every TV producer in New York knows. NRA would have been the morning's lead story. Spiked stories cannot, however, diminish the impact of our victory. It remains profound and enormous.

To the gun ban movement, I-676 was not only a "must-win;" it was seen as a "can't lose" as well. Everyone knew the score. A survey of registered voters conducted by Moore Information in mid-September asked: "If the election was held today would you vote "yes" or "no" on this measure?" The results showed 676 passing by a margin of two to one. In some demographic categories, we were behind 80% to 20%.

With every poll and every news report forecasting a gun control landslide, an October fund-raising letter from Handgun Control, Inc., crowed that passage of the initiative would create "enormous momentum for a national gun licensing law." On November 4, our landslide, and that's what it was, swept over every region of Washington State. It covered virtually every demographic category.

Law enforcement support was critical--and astronomical. More than 80% of the state's police and sheriffs were on our side. Newspapers also overwhelmingly editorialized in our favor. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, for example, commenting on the state's average of about 14 annual accidents with handguns among those under age 15, noted: "The death or injury of even one child cannot be dismissed, but if the aim is to prevent the irresponsible behavior of 14 handgun owners annually, we must ask if licensing the remaining 999,986 responsible handgun owners is an effective means to that end."

But as with all of our successful campaigns, everything was built on NRA grassroots. Rising to this historic occasion, NRA members performed brilliantly.

Members volunteered to take vacation time from work to further the cause. One of our members took off from work for two weeks just to drive a panel truck loaded with signs, fliers and bumper stickers. We met with NRA members in every corner of the state, from Bellingham to Spokane, from Yakima to Olympia. Our members distributed hundreds of thousands of brochures, yard signs, stickers and buttons--all echoing the message Washingtonians would learn through advertising: I-676 means no safety, no self-defense, no privacy.

This was the result of an ambitious, innovative political, communications and grassroots plan and $2.5 million of your hard-earned contributions. The winning NRA team has never done it this well, this massively and this creatively. Ever. And the NRA team had to do it. This was the loss of privacy for gun owners and their spouses. This was the confiscation of guns. This was the blanket prosecution of thousands of gun owners and their spouses.

Members of Washington State's congressional delegation such as Doc Hastings, Jack Metcalf, Linda Smith and George Nethercutt joined the team and were unequivocal in their opposition to I-676.

The people heard what NRA had to say and agreed with us. Therefore, we all owe thanks to the people of Washington for their trust. We will do our utmost to honor that trust in the future.

The future for gun owners in Virginia grew brighter this election day. Gun owners there also had a clear choice. They elected Jim Gilmore their next Governor because he supports the fundamental rights of gun owners and is dedicated to fighting crime by focusing on criminals, not by taking gun rights away from the law-abiding. He supports Virginia's right to carry law, and as a prosecutor and later as Attorney General, fought to put criminals in prison. To keep them there, he worked with Gov. George Allen to abolish parole. In contrast, his opponent shared a stage with Sarah Brady, leader of the gun-ban lobby, and accepted the endorsement of her group, Handgun Control, Inc.

The NRA Political Victory Fund also endorsed Mark Earley's campaign for Attorney General, and he won handily. In all, the PVF was involved in 68 of the 100 House of Delegates races in Virginia, and 60 of our endorsed candidates were victorious, giving us an impressive winning percentage of 88%.

In New Jersey, site of the only other gubernatorial contest in the country, NRA was the only national organization to stand with Gov. Christie Todd Whitman in her difficult reelection campaign, a campaign that proved particularly refreshing because neither candidate sought election through the vilification of gun owners. Until the election of Christine Todd Whitman four years ago, fighting crime in New Jersey increasingly meant a contest to see who could most restrict the rights of law-abiding gun owners. Under Gov. Whitman, law enforcement resources are focused where they belong--on criminals.

The NRA-PVF was involved in 70 New Jersey assembly and senate races and 62 of our candidates won. One of the victors was Assemblyman Tony Bucco who beat an incumbent senator, whose campaign was marked by its attacks on Bucco as a "gun nut." Such scare tactics failed in New Jersey, and they failed in Washington. Educated voters were able to see such efforts for what they were and soundly rejected them. There is much work still to be done to safeguard our Second Amendment rights, but, as we saw on Election Day '97, hard work pays great dividends.