They have also asked for contributions from gun-control groups, celebrities and politicians with strong antigun views, though with little success so far.

Both the rifle association and the leading gun-control group, Handgun Control Inc., are treating this election as historic.

That's why gun-control groups insist that they help the party far more than they hurt it.

The action has been ridiculed by gun-control groups, which say the county measure is based on an erroneous reading of the Constitution.

He has also taken a typically Western stance on guns, for example, favoring responsible ownership and seeking no financial help from gun-control groups in Washington.

Mr. Pataki has been under intense pressure by gun-control groups and lobbyists to cancel the show.

And a loose coalition of gun-control groups has pledged to spend several million dollars helping to elect their friends, most of them Democrats.

Some gun-control groups are critical of what Mr. D'Andrilli does.

Nice try, but yesterday the Violence Policy Center, a gun-control group, brought the ruse to an abrupt end.

Although efforts to close the loophole have failed in Congress, the gun-control groups are hoping to try again by recasting the issue as one of homeland defense.