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The National Rifle Association official wasn't sure he correctly heard the reporter's question over the clatter of gunshots from the firing line.

"You said the NRA is a traditionally left-wing organization?" Dwight Van Horn said, incredulously repeating the question.

The gun rights group - traditionally not a left-wing organization, to answer the question - lent its endorsement Monday to Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat.

For governor.

Richardson may not need the boost, as he is well ahead of GOP challenger John Dendahl in polls and campaign financing.

But as he mulls a run for president, Richardson's history of close relations with the NRA could set him apart from other Democrats seeking the party's bid.

As Richardson noted, he's not the first Democrat to receive an NRA endorsement.

"But there haven't been very many," he said.

Others have tried to court the so-called sportsman vote. John Kerry took reporters along on a hunting trip during the 2004 presidential election, though it may have been footage of the Massachusetts senator's windsurfing expeditions that stuck in voters' minds.

The NRA endorsement, announced Monday at a West Mesa shooting range where hundreds of law enforcement officers from around the world took part in an NRA-sponsored shooting championship, wasn't the first time Richardson has garnered the group's backing.

"He's been a pretty solid guy on the gun issue," Van Horn, a member of the NRA's board of directors, said.

Whether that record could woo pro-Second Amendment voters into the Democratic fold in a national election is another question.

"He has treated us first class," said Kayne Robinson, NRA's executive director for general operations. "What the implication of that will be in national politics is beyond my pay grade."

A news release announcing the endorsement cites Richardson's support for a law that allows New Mexico residents to carry concealed handguns with a permit.

Richardson said he has earned a concealed-carry permit himself.

"I am not packing today, though," he said, "because I have plenty of State Police officers here to protect me."

That drew a laugh at the shooting range.

David Adams, a retired prison guard from Philadelphia, sat in a patch of shade and listened to Richardson address the group.

Like most NRA members, Adams said, he is a Republican and he won't vote for someone who opposes gun rights.

"I think gun rights is one of the most important issues, especially with all the crime we have," he said.

Adams said he hadn't heard much about Bill Richardson before Monday, but liked what he saw.

"He seemed like a down-to-earth guy," Adams said. "He didn't come out in a suit and tie. He was wearing that string tie."

After all, as one of Richardson's first campaign ads this year said, Richardson's suits don't fit.

And maybe now we know why. Because he's packing.