Tiahrt loses Kansas primary

[ChamberedRound]

As far as firearms rights were concerned, Todd Tiahrt was one of the good guys that seems to have gotten caught up in the movement to oust incumbents. He authored the Tiahrt Amendment, which (source: Wikipedia):

...prohibits the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) from releasing information from its firearms trace database to anyone other than a law enforcement agency or prosecutor in connection with a criminal investigation. Additionally, any data so released is inadmissible in a civil lawsuit.

However, it's my understanding that this amendment is typically a rider to existing legislation which must be approved yearly. So, now that the amendment's namesake and champion are out, what happens to the future of protecting firearms background checks from those undeserving entities who desire access?

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/...senate-primary

Moran bests Tiahrt in GOP Senate primary
By Shane D'Aprile
08/04/10 12:32 AM ET

Rep. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) narrowly defeated fellow Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) Tuesday in a Senate primary that went down to the wire.

The AP called the race for Moran with 86 percent of precincts reporting. Moran was ahead of Tiahrt 49 percent to 45 percent.

Moran and Tiahrt spent more than $2 million in the final two weeks of a nasty Republican primary for Senate.

In this heavily GOP state, Moran is now the prohibitive favorite to win the seat of Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) in the fall. Brownback opted to launch a bid for governor.

The race between the two GOP lawmakers, who have served side by side in the House of Representatives and in Kansas state Senate, turned ugly early. And like most Republican primaries this season, it was a battle to win conservatives.

In the final week of the race, Moran attacked Tiahrt over an old House ethics probe, from which he was cleared two years ago. And Tiahrt continued to question Moran's conservative credentials.

Independent polling in the race showed Moran up large margins for most of the campaign, but the race tightened ahead of Tuesday's primary. The last Survey USA poll in the race gave Moran just a 10-point lead over Tiahrt. Earlier polls had Moran up nearly 30 points.

The two campaigns also sparred over internal polls throughout the race, with both camps accusing the other of push polling.

Both Tiahrt and Moran had backing from prominent conservatives. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) and presidential advisor Karl Rove endorsed Tiahrt, while Moran was backed by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), who made a July campaign appearance on his behalf, and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).

Turnout wise, Moran had a distinct advantage in the closed Republican primary in that his congressional district had some 35,000 more Republican registrants than the district represented by Tiahrt.

[Andrew17019]

I get chased around by Tiahrt promoters at every gun show I go to out here in KS. My girlfriend has learned to avoid the Tiahrt booth because they love to slap stickers on her...!

I know that he pushed for gun owner privacy rights, but not much else about him, since I am still a registered PA voter.