WASHINGTON — Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr can add a new chant to the campaign: Shoot, baby, shoot.
Barr, a supporter of gun rights, auctioned off a shotgun to the highest contributor during a two-day period last week.
"We had a contribution of a new shotgun," Barr campaign manager Russ Verney said. "The contributor suggested we offer it as an incentive to increase contributions."
The e-mail solicitation of a new Mossberg shotgun, with the promise of Barr's autograph on it, did raise donations. Verney didn't know how much money the "shotgun contribution" raised or how much the winner donated to the campaign.
The maximum contribution allowed for the general election is $2,300 per individual. The 12-gauge Mossberg Model 590A pump shotgun sells for about $500.
"We're not exactly mailing guns out," Verney said. "The dealer who has the gun will send it out to a dealer who is near the winning contributor."
That means the campaign will abide by gun-control laws, laws that Barr would like to rescind.
"I oppose any law requiring registration of, or restricting the ownership, manufacture, or transfer or sale of firearms or ammunition to law-abiding citizens," Barr says on his campaign site.
Barr, a member of the National Rifle Association's board of directors, apparently had expected to get the organization's endorsement. The NRA endorsed Republican candidate John McCain in October, however.
An official close to the NRA's endorsement process said, "Barr's name never came up, never."
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