To the US National Rifle Association, John Kerry brings to mind a pink-bowed poodle - and for the powerful gun lobby, calling someone a lapdog that "don't hunt" is not a compliment.
In Midwestern battleground states such as Wisconsin, where some half a million people tramp the forests hunting for deer each autumn, guns are definitely on some voters' minds. These states, home to many gun-owners and hunters who tend to support President Bush over John Kerry, could prove decisive for the November 2nd election.
While the National Rifle Association endorsed Mr Bush on Wednesday and has been harshly critical of Mr Kerry, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence has backed the Massachusetts senator's "sensible" approach to guns. The Brady Campaign resulted from the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. In the attack, his press secretary, Jim Brady, was shot and seriously wounded in the head. He is now confined to a wheelchair.
According to opinion polls, gun control has not registered as a top-tier issue with voters this year, not even after the Republican-controlled Congress allowed the assault weapons ban to expire last month.
But pollsters have found that people who care the most about guns are highly motivated to turn out and vote. In a close race, turnout of the most committed voters could make a difference.
"My customers are solidly pro-Bush," said Nick Beatovic, owner of Badger Outdoors in West Milwaukee. "Kerry can't erase 20 years of voting against gun-owners by having his picture taken with a gun."
"Kerry's been against guns all along," complained Larry Gleasman (64), owner of Grampa's Gun Shop in Madison. "He tries to pass himself off as a sportsman but his votes in Congress are all anti-gun."
Yet Mr Gleasman, who voted for Mr Bush in 2000, said he was not quite fully committed to Mr Bush yet this time, still considering "the war, economy, jobs" as more important than gun control.
Kevin Gunderson (44) was at a gun store in Gander Mountain recently, buying his 12-year-old son his first shotgun.
Mr Gunderson, a small businessman, agrees wholeheartedly with Mr Bush on guns, Iraq and on most other issues. "I like his ideas that he wants to enforce current [ gun] laws rather than making new ones," he said.
Jason Cook (32) a heating and air conditioning installer from Madison, agreed. Mr Cook said that even if Mr Kerry could convince him he was pro-gun, it wouldn't have made much of a difference. "I've just always considered myself a conservative," he said. "The Republican Party in general is pro-gun. I like the fact that they let the assault weapons ban go."
But not every Wisconsin hunter shares that view.
Hans Nutting (29), a plumber from Middleton, owns three rifles and two shotguns, and pays a lot of attention to environmental policy. He's a Democrat and a Kerry voter. "John Kerry has a really great idea on the outdoors and how to protect them. Bush himself has made a few promises, but he pushed back the dates on them," particularly on mercury contamination in lakes, Mr Nutting said.
And Don Kramer (53), a healthcare industry worker from Lodi, also browsing in a gun store recently, said he voted for Mr Bush in 2000 and agrees with him on guns. Nevertheless, he's voting for Mr Kerry this time, in part because he trusts him more to help provide affordable healthcare.