Congressman Duncan Hunter of Alpine, California has been named CCRKBA Gun Rights Defender of the Month for January.
 In nominating the San Diego-area U.S. Representative for the Award, John M. Snyder, CCRKBA Public Affairs Director, said that, “the longer one observes what happens on Capitol Hill, the more one realizes that we Americans rely on a number of public figures, and not always those who are most well-known as promoters of ‘our issues,’ for the preservation of our individual Second Amendment civil right to keep and bear arms.  As controversies develop in Congress, Representatives or Senators who serve on committees of original jurisdiction of those particular issues receive the most attention with regard to those controversies.  However, individuals who serve on other committees often deserve as much credit for their service to the cause as those who do.
 “Duncan Hunter is just such an individual.  As his congressional career indicates, and as he himself has indicated to Point Blank, he believes firmly in the constitutional right of law-abiding citizens to safely and responsibly possess firearms and has consistently voted to ensure that gun control laws do not infringe upon our Second Amendment rights.  He certainly is most deserving of this Award.”
 Most recently, Congressman Hunter voted in favor of H.R. 5013, by Rep. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, to prohibit any agency using federal disaster relief funds from seizing firearms from law-abiding citizens during emergencies such as Hurricane Katrina.  Titled the Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act, the measure was included in the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2007 and signed into law by President George W. Bush last October.
 In the 109th Congress, which ended last month, Rep. Hunter cosponsored the proposed District of Columbia Personal Protection Act, which would have repealed the outrageous District of Columbia gun ban, and allowed residents of our Nation’s Capital to acquire and use handguns for the protection of their lives and the lives of their loved ones.
 “Since gun control measures often only penalize law-abiding citizens while having little effect on the proliferation of illegal arms,” Hunter told Point Blank, “Congress’ efforts should focus on imposing tougher penalties on those who break the law rather than taking guns away from legitimate gun owners.”
 In 2005, Congressman Hunter voted for the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, the law, hotly opposed by the gun control lobby, which prohibits civil liability actions from being brought or continued against manufacturers, distributors, dealers or importers of firearms or ammunition for damages, injunctive or other relief from the misuse of their products by others.
 In 2003, Hunter voted for a similar proposal.
 Back in 1999, Hunter voted in favor of a bill proposed by then-Rep. Bill McCollum of Florida to require anyone who purchases a gun at a gun show to go through an instant criminal records background check which must be completed within 24 hours instead of 72 hours.  McCollum last November was elected Attorney General of the State of Florida.
 First elected to Congress in 1980, and reelected to each succeeding Congress, Hunter won the Bronze Star for his service in the Army in Vietnam.
 Born May 31, 1948 in Riverside, California, Hunter now is considering the possibility of declaring a candidacy for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 2008.
He served as Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee for three years and now is the Ranking Member of that Committee.
 Hunter briefly attended the University of Montana and the University of California, Santa Barbara before enlisting in the United States Army. He served in the Vietnam War in the 173rd Airborne Brigade and the 75th Army Rangers. 
 After leaving the Army, Hunter enrolled at Western State University College of Law in San Diego in 1973 on the GI Bill while also working at farming and construction.  He earned a BSL and JD in 1976.  He then worked as a plaintiff’s attorney, opening a law office in Barrio Logan San Diego.  He assisted many in the Hispanic community free of charge and without government compensation before being recruited in 1980 to run for Congress. 
 In 1973, Hunter married the former Lynne Layh.  Their son, Duncan Duane Hunter, born in 1977, a First Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, was deployed to Iraq in 2003.  The couple has another son, Samuel.  They also have two grandchildren.