Matt Blunt was born in Springfield, Missouri in 1970 and is the son of United States Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO). After serving in the Navy, Blunt was first elected into office as a Missouri state representative. He was elected to the position of Missouri Secretary of State in 2000 and Governor in 2004. Declining to pursue a second term as governor, Blunt joined the lobbying firm Cassidy & Associates as a consultant. Cassidy & Associates’ most high-profile client at that time was Teodoro Obiang, dictator of Equatorial Guinea. Obiang, who proclaimed to be in “permanent contact with the Almighty,” giving him the right to kill with impunity, paid Cassidy & Associates $120,000 per month to improve his image in the United States. In February 2011, Matt Blunt was appointed president of the American Automotive Policy Council. Blunt’s father, Roy Blunt, is currently serving as a U.S. Senator from Missouri and enjoys an ‘A’ rating from the National Rifle Association.

Richard Pearson received a B.S. in Education in 1966 and an M.S. in Education in 1973 from Illinois State University. He worked as a social studies and geography teacher in various middle and high schools around Illinois from 1966 until 2001. From 1994 until 2004, Pearson has held various positions within the Illinois State Rifle Association, including membership chairman, lobbyist, president and executive director. From 1988 until 1997, Pearson acted as a rifle instructor at the NRA Training Counselors program. He is also a member of the NRA Nominating Committee.

Heil, a resident of New Freedom, Pennsylvania, joined the Second Amendment Sisters (SAS) in 2000 and served as the organization’s Pennsylvania Coordinator before becoming its National Spokesperson. In 2007, Heil served as the White Rose Friends of the NRA Committee Co-Chair. Heil was elected to the National Rifle Association Board of Directors in April 2012. She also currently serves as a member of the White Rose Friends of the NRA committee; a member of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Advisory Council for Hunting, Fishing, and Conservation; and as the Treasurer for the York County Republican’s Club.

J. Kenneth Blackwell grew up in Ohio and received a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Xavier University. He first held elected office as a member of Cincinnati’s city council, before being elected as mayor of Cincinnati in 1979. Blackwell worked in the administration of President George H.W. Bush before returning to state politics in Ohio, where he served as State Treasurer and later Secretary of State. After losing to Democrat Ted Strickland in the 2006 Ohio gubernatorial elections, Blackwell ran (unsuccessfully) for Republican National Committee (RNC) chair in 2009. He currently serves as Vice Chairman of RNC’s Platform Committee and as Chair of Citizens for Working America, a Super PAC exclusively focused on electing U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) president of the United States.

Johnny Nugent has served in the Indiana State Senate since 1978 and is a former Republican Majority Floor Leader. Nugent authored a bill that prohibits municipalities in Indiana from preempting state firearm laws that was enacted into law during the 2011 legislative session. In 2009, Nugent introduced a bill that would have prohibited Indiana public colleges and universities from banning firearms from campus. Nugent has also expressed disappointment over a policy that prohibits visitors to the Indiana Statehouse from carrying concealed firearms. Legislators are exempt from the policy, however, and Nugent has revealed that he carries guns into the statehouse. The NRA Political Victory Fund endorsed his candidacy for the Indiana Senate in 2010 and gave him an “A+” rating. Outside of his role in the legislature, Nugent works as a tractor salesman.

Clel Baudler served as an Iowa state trooper for 32 years before retiring to focus on farming. He was first elected to the Iowa House of Representatives in 1998 and currently serves as the Ranking Member of the House Public Safety Committee.

Marion Hammer began handling firearms as a toddler. As she recalls it: “I grew up with guns … I went to live on a farm. I was five years old. My granddaddy would go off rabbit hunting and squirrel hunting couple or three times a week. It’s just what we did. And we ate rabbits and squirrels. And I wanted to go. And I begged him to let me go … And before I was six years old, I was shooting rabbits and squirrels. It’s a way of life.” She won dozens of shooting tournaments before becoming a gun rights activist after the passage of the 1968 Gun Control Act. Hammer founded Unified Sportsmen of Florida (USF)—a state affiliate of the National Rifle Association—in 1975 and became the full-time lobbyist for USF and the NRA in Florida in 1978. She explains that she founded USF “because Florida was seeing what I would call a burst of gun control measures being filed by northerners who had moved to South Florida and had brought the stuff that they had moved away from with them.” Hammer was elected to the NRA Board in 1982. From 1995 to 1998, she served as the organization’s first female president. In 2005, Hammer was inducted into the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame after being selected by Republican Governor Jeb Bush. During more than 35 years working for the NRA in the Florida state legislature, she has lobbied for bills to: a) Create a “Shall Issue” concealed carry permitting system; b) Liberalize the law concerning the use of lethal force in public by gun carriers; c) Force colleges and universities to allow guns on their campuses; d) Prevent local governments from regulating firearms on their own, and; e) Prohibit doctors, including pediatricians, from asking patients questions about firearms. Hammer has acknowledged that she carried a loaded handgun in her purse prior to the enactment of Florida’s concealed carry law in 1987, and has stated, “I’m 4-foot-11. I’m 67 years old. If you came at me, and I felt that my life was in danger or that I was going to be injured, I wouldn’t hesitate to shoot you.” In 2010, Hammer received $190,000 in compensation from the NRA for consulting work, in addition to the $110,000 per year salary she receives from Unified Sportsmen of Florida.

Aging hard rocker Ted Nugent, born in Detroit, Michigan in 1948, is best known for his 1977 hit “Cat Scratch Fever.” Having toured since 1967, the “Motor City Madman” has produced over 30 albums.

Nugent is also well known for being a loud and aggressive supporter of gun rights in the United States. Serving on the Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association since 1995, Nugent was second only to Oliver North in votes received in the 2010 NRA board elections. In 2008, Nugent was the recipient of $40,000 in fees from the National Rifle Association.

An avid supporter of hunting who frequently clashes with animal rights groups, “Uncle Ted” hunts game on his ranches in Texas and Michigan. Nugent has been outspoken on other political issues and has been a vocal opponent of entitlement programs and universal health care. He continues to maintain a rigorous touring schedule and is not shy about sharing his political beliefs on stage.

James Gilmore, who holds a law degree from the University of Virginia, was first elected to office in 1993 as Virginia’s Attorney General. After serving four years in that position, Gilmore was elected as Virginia’s governor in 1998. During his last two years as governor, Gilmore also served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee. He was an unsuccessful candidate in both the 2008 presidential election and Virginia Senate election.

Ronnie Barrett designed the first .50 caliber sniper rifle after observing a Browning machine gun mounted on a boat. This high-powered sniper rifle—available for sale on the civilian market—has an effective range of over a mile and can pierce armor. John C. Killorin, a former special agent in charge of the Atlanta field division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), called Barrett’s rifle “a devastatingly powerful weapon against which most troops, most law enforcement, no civilians, have any means of defense.” Barrett, on the other hand, has described his invention as “a toy for a big boy.” In 2004, then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) banned civilian ownership of the rifle. In 2005, U.S. Representative Jim Moran (D-VA) and 28 cosponsors introduced legislation that would have placed stricter regulations on .50 caliber sniper rifles by placing them in the same federal regulatory class as machine guns. The 50 Caliber Sniper Rifle Reduction Act found that “the intended use of these long-range firearms…is the taking of human life and the destruction of materiel, including armored vehicles and such components of the national critical infrastructure as radars and microwave transmission devices, in addition 50 caliber sniper weapons pose a significant threat to civil aviation in that they are capable of destroying or disabling jet aircraft … The virtually unrestricted availability of these firearms and ammunition, given the uses intended in their design and manufacture, present a serious and substantial threat to the national security.” The Branch Davidians used the Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle during the 1993 Waco siege, forcing the FBI to use armored Bradley fighting vehicles before upgrading to even heavier armor. Smalls arms proliferation has led to the acquisition of these rifles by other terrorist organizations and extremist groups. Essam al-Ridi, a government witness during the trial of terrorists involved in the 1998 bombing of United States embassies in Africa, testified that he sold Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda terrorist organization 25 Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifles in 1988 or 1989. Barrett’s rifle was also used by IRA snipers to kill British police officers and Irish constables during “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland. Barrett raises funds for the NRA Foundation by offering tours of the Barrett factory in exchange for a $1,000 donation.