Marion Hammer
*Discussing the prospects of gun control initiatives prompted by the Newtown, Conn. massacre, a former president of the National Rifle Association drew a comparison between attempts to ban guns and racism.
Former NRA president Marion Hammer appearing on an episode of the NRA news show The Daily News on Wednesday.
Host Ginny Simone said toward the end of the segment: “And they even admit this is about banning the ugliest guns, it’s about cosmetics and it has nothing to do about how a firearm works.”
“Well, you know, banning people and things because of the way they look went out a long time ago,” Hammer responded. “But here they are again. The color of a gun. The way it looks. It’s just bad politics.”
Marion Hammer in 1995
By late Friday morning, Hammer’s comments were already being addressed by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) on MSNBC.
“The issue that needs to be discussed is the regulatory power Congress has to regulate assault weapons, regulate magazines and close the loopholes,” Grijalva said on MSNBC Live. “Those are three simple, common sense issues that we need to confront and no amount of trying to equate racism with gun ownership or racism with the ability to carry a weapon passes any muster or has any realm of reality to it.”
Watch Hammer’s comments (“banning people and things” comment comes toward end):
