LONDONDERRY — During a visit to the Londonderry Fish and Game Club Friday afternoon, National Rifle Association President David Keene urged local gun advocates to target their votes in next month's elections.

It was standing room only during Keene's appearance at the Lund Street sportsmen's club, where a good number of the club's 700 or so members gathered to meet up for chowder and chili with such NRA-endorsed candidates as Congressman Frank Guinta, Republican Gubernatorial candidate Ovide LaMontagne and Congressman Charlie Bass.

Club President Rick Olson said Friday was a very important moment for the local sporting club.

“It's a huge deal for us,” Olson said. “We're big advocates of the Second Amendment. In other words, in order to be a member of our club in the first place, you have to be an NRA member.”

Keene, a Wisconsin native traveling around the country urging NRA members to exercise their votes this November, said the population's attitudes towards guns are changing, as national statistics suggest more households than ever are exercising their right to bear arms.

“Today guns are cool,” said Keene. “That just wasn't true 10 years ago.

According to Keene, there's been a 10 percent increase in hunting licenses issued in the U.S. this past decade, while rifle clubs have made a dramatic reappearance at American high schools.

He noted that there's been a 38 percent increase in women seeking NRA memberships in recent years: “the greatest increase in a decade,” he said.

Earlier this month, Keene chatted with a young sorority girl who told him that she and her sisters enjoyed shooting guns as a favorite Friday night activity.

“In general, attitudes have changed regardless of what our current President would like people to believe,” Keene said, criticizing President Obama's stance on gun rights.

“If Obama gets elected again, we're going to see more anti-gun legislators in the Supreme Court and we'll see a Small Arms Amendment in the United Nations,” he warned. “Right now, all the gains the NRA has enjoyed over the years are back on the table.”

Keene said the coming election “is the most important election we've faced yet as NRA supporters.”

“Our President says he wants 'common sense' gun control, but at the same time supports a law to banish the right to carry (firearms) on a national basis,” he said. “We reject all of that.”

“Wouldn't it be nice for NH people to have a gun owner, hunter and snowmobiler as the next governor,” LaMontagne asked, inciting a huge applause from the crowd, many of them waving orange “Defeat Obama” fans.

A fourth-generation New Hampshire native, the Republic gubernatorial candidate said guns have played an important part of his family life since a young age, when his father bought him a Daisy BB gun and he proudly shot his first pheasant.

“When I'm elected governor, I won't say 'I'm going to Disney World,' ” LaMontagne joked. “I'll say that I'm going hunting!”

aguilmet@newstote.com