Not much of a revelation (like there was a question of the National Rifle Association giving their endorsement to Barack Obama, heh), but the NRA has finally issued their official presidential endorsement, hailing Mitt Romney as their vote for a “a friend of our Second Amendment freedoms and hunting heritage in the White House”, via AFP:

“Today we live in an America… led by a president who mocks our values, belittles our faith, and is threatened by our freedom,” said Cox in Fishersville, Virginia, where Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan, a congressman and avid hunter, attended a rally.

“So on behalf of the four million men and women of the National Rifle Association, representing tens of millions of NRA supporters, it is my honor to announce the NRA’s endorsement of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan,” Cox said in a statement. …

NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre spoke of the tight Obama-Romney race playing out in Virginia, “the front line of this election.”

“This is where the race could be won or lost,” he said. “This is where gun owners must make that difference.”

Team Romney accepted the endorsement with pleasure in a statement:

“It is the NRA that protects the Second Amendment. I am proud to have their support for my candidacy, and when I am president, I will do all in my power to defend and protect the right of all law-abiding Americans to keep and bear arms,” Mr. Romney said in a statement touting the group’s backing.

So, again, not much of a surprise, but seeing as how the National Rifle Association is an influential organization with over four millions members of all political stripes — and that, despite/because of the horrible Obama economy, the firearms industry is going gangbusters, yeehaw! — I can’t imagine the endorsement playing out as a negative anywhere but the already hyper-liberal circles.

And, just because it’s Friday and it’s awesome, I came across this little nugget a couple of weeks ago and have been saving it for a rainy day. Mitt Romney may not be much of a sportsman himself, but his running mate sure as heck is — and this is what real “girl power” looks like! Via CNN:

Gearing up for deer-hunting season, Rep. Paul Ryan bought hunting clothes for his daughter to go with the rifle the Republican vice presidential nominee gave her for Christmas.

“She’s hunted with me but this is the first time she gets to do the hunting herself,” Ryan said of daughter Liza. “She’s 10 years old and you can hunt starting at 10. I got her a rifle for Christmas last year and so I’m getting her ready.”

On Tuesday in Ohio, between a town hall in Cincinnati and a rally with GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney in Vandalia, Ryan stopped at Bass Pro Shops in the Forrest Park neighborhood to get his daughter outfitted for hunting season.

The outdoorsman went directly to the “Women’s Camo” area to check out their assortment of camouflage items.

Love. It.