The Maverick Who Revolutionized Gun Rights In America

The Legacy of H.L. “Bill” Richardson

Innovative Maverick. Defender of Freedom.

Effective, provocative, colorful, and imaginative – these words perfectly describe Senator H.L. Richardson, the founder of Gun Owners of California and Gun Owners of America.

Long before the anti-gun movement was on anyone’s radar, California State Senator H.L. “Bill” Richardson became concerned with the national inroads the radical left were making in politics, most specifically their consistent attempts to disarm Americans. In 1975, in Richardson’s home state, legislation was introduced to ban all handguns, which generated a swell of support from elected officials and the mainstream media.

This, however, did not sit well with Richardson, who decided to mobilize thousands of enraged citizens to fight the ban, and Gun Owners of California was born, America’s first pro-gun political action committee. A direct mail attack was unleashed from one end of the state to the other, and the handgun-ban bill was summarily defeated. This success and Richardson’s keen skill for activating single individuals toward a common goal spurred him to take it national – and Gun Owners of America came into being.

During his 22 years in the California Senate, Richardson showed that a determined application of confrontational politics could produce big victories. While in office, in addition to GOC and GOA, Richardson organized multiple Political Action Committees (PACs) that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight the political left. Richardson also took this sharp political insight and wrote a virtual “game plan” for political wins with his controversial book, Confrontational Politics. He clearly explained his core belief that politics should be a struggle of competing ideologies, not a game of compromise and accommodation. Thus, GOC/GOA’s “no compromise” motto.

Following his retirement from the Legislature in 1988, he primarily devoted his time to GOC and GOA. Respected veteran reporter Dan Walters covered the Capitol for decades and remembered Richardson after his passing in 2020 by penning “The Man Who Changed the Capitol.” He wrote how Richardson “single-handedly changed the nature of the Capitol, pioneered political techniques that continue to be used, and altered the course of California history… few political figures past or present could claim to have had such impact.”

GOA is proud to celebrate the extraordinary legacy of our founder, Senator H. L. “Bill” Richardson.

This article was originally published in the GOALS 2024 Magazine.