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Nancy Smith

Demonizing Marion Hammer and the NRA Won't Prevent Another Parkland

February 21, 2018 - 6:00am

You can count on it. Every time there's a mass shooting in this country, the Left comes out of the woodwork to hurl obscenities and point its finger at ... who else? The National Rifle Association.

It's as if the NRA, not the shooter, is the murderer. And in Florida the person who apparently personifies evil gun-love is powerful, longtime NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer. 

So, the word out there in Leftland is, we'd better demonize her. We'd better keep the rhetoric coming, because at age 78, Hammer and her friends in the Legislature "have turned a debate over the constitutional rights of gun owners into a public safety menace." 

It's important that the Left remind us Hammer and the GOP are to blame for the lack of what progressives call “common sense” gun regulations. Hammer and the party are the puppeteers, and GOP politicians are their marionettes. So, let's keep repeating this. Let's beat it like a drum. Let's keep slapping labels on Hammer -- "angry deity" and "gun moll" and "the NRA's killing machine."

I Beg to Differ

What hogwash.

Marion Hammer was the first woman president of the National Rifle Association in the 147-year existence of the organization. The NRA was 125 years old in 1996 when she was elected. But she is so much more than an NRA board member and past president.

Ever since I arrived in Tallahassee I was told over and over how beloved Hammer was, that 5 million NRA members love this woman. "Marion's dedication, her honesty, her exceptional commitment to the NRA, the Second Amendment and our cause of Freedom are unequaled," they told me.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush best defined her character: “When she says it, you know she means it, and you know her word is golden. She is an extraordinary woman in a man’s world, and she’s one of the most effective advocates in the political process over a long period of time.” See the video on this page profiling her.

You want to read more about Marion Hammer's accomplishments, read this.

Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz, who worked extensively with Hammer during his years in the Florida House before being elected to Congress, wrote this in the Fall 2015 issue of Influence magazine:

“I knew the greatest force in Florida politics was on my side," Gaetz declared. "Marion Hammer is the chief [Florida] lobbyist for the National Rifle Association. Armed with decades of political and legislative experience, financial resources, and the most engaged/informed/rabid liberty-loving constituency, she is widely regarded as the most powerful state-level lobbyist in Florida (and probably the United States). ... Her judgment is trusted with good reason.”

The pointy fingers and general demonization actually have multiplied since the January 2017 shooting at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, because that incident happened before the circus came to town -- that is, in an ordinary year. The Parkland massacre was timed perfectly for the Left to make hay, in this election year when Democrats are feeling their oats and fancy their chances.

Marion Hammer
Marion Hammer

Forgive the reference to Game of Thrones here, but it's as if 90 percent of the journalists in this country see the NRA and Marion Hammer as the White Walkers, out to destroy all living beings. Powerful progressive organizations, on the other hand, get to be the engines of social justice. They are the persuasive force that helps put our nation on the right side of history.

Not exactly fake news, maybe, but certainly a serious slanting of it.

Journalists often go out of their way to treat the NRA differently than they do every other activist group. 

Commenting in the National Review, senior writer David French said, "Yes, (journalists) recognize that liberal groups like the National Education Association and Planned Parenthood are important, but they do not treat progressive politicians as those organizations’ puppets. Instead, they do the accurate thing: They cast progressive politicians and progressive organizations as part and parcel of a larger progressive community that shares certain ideas and values and speaks for tens of millions of American citizens."

Why not treat the NRA like that? 

Debate Florida's gun laws or lack of them, their effectiveness, their enforcement, all the measures that need to be taken to prevent another Parkland. But realize, please, that it isn't Marion Hammer who strikes fear in the hearts of Florida lawmakers. It's the people back home they represent. The people who don't want to see their Second Amendment rights abridged.

Uncompromising Hammer does nothing more than reflect the wishes of a very large community that senses those rights eroding. It's a job she happens to do as well as anyone who has ever tried. And nothing so cuts her enemies into little pieces as that.

Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith

Comments

Coincidentally, not calling her and the NRA out won't prevent another Parkland either. This is essentially the same old intellectually dishonest, "NRA-sanctioned" narrative repeated ad nauseam after every mass shooting.

We love Marion, Wayne and are proud new members of the NRA...if these adults are too blind to figure out who pulls triggers, who drives and steers vehicles, who pulls the food with utensils up to mouths then they have worse issues then the mentally sick do!

The new term for the left "Benighted", fits perfectly.

If you do not buy into the National Rifle Association agenda, do not bother with this site. This is their propaganda site

Exactly!!!!

I have posted many comments over the Sunshine State News. Mostly in support of Nancy Smith. My G rated criticisms of the NRA and its CEO Wayne LaPierre have been censored despite being G rated. I guess we nowknow who pays for the Sunshine State news.

Nancy Smith, You are the problem - You need to be retired, too.

Take the people and their Second Amendment rights and stick em where the sun don't shine (metaphor).

AMEN!

Marion Hammer is FULLY COMPLICIT IN THE MURDER OF CHILDREN and many, many other innocents, including far too many law enforcement officers. Our schools, churches, military recruitment centers, nightclubs, streets and shopping malls have become scenes of bloodbaths due to the gun crazy policies of such as her. Show us your evil, blood stained hands, Marion Hammer. And the responsibility goes as well to ALL OF THE MEMBERS OF THE NRA. The blood of innocents is on their hands as well.

Marion is a bully; Marion threatens people on a continuous basis, and if they don't do exactly as she says, she puts them on her political "Hitlist". She is a corrupt lobbyist; she threatens people with withdrawal of funds unless they represent her organization, and ONLY her organization. Maybe some people believe threats are the way to go in this country. but you have to wonder why the NRA dislikes any argument. Whats the point of a free country, if their is no room for argument? Shouting down radicals on the left doesn't detract from the above argument, it enhances it. Those who say there are no shades of gray show they hate freedom of thought and speech--period.

Marion Hammer is a corrupting force in politics. She embodies what is wrong with our democracy. Blood is on her hands.

Discontinuing the sale of weapons of war won't prevent it. Raising purchase age won't prevent it. Changing any law or adding new laws won't prevent it. Nothing we do will prevent school shootings. So we must do nothing. Because doing something will cost the NRA a ton of money. So let's do nothing and keep the dollars flowing into the NRA and out to Conservative politicians. Thanks for your attention.

What you fail to point out and realize through all of this, and apparently most everyone else for that matter is what this is really about. It is what it is always about, money. Tons of it. Most politicians don't give a rats tail about the NRA. They care about that 3, 4, 5 million dollar check to get their sorry behinds reelected. They will gladly be pro 2nd, or 3rd or 4th for that matter for that amount of cash. If you take an honest look at things, party, choice, NRA aside, our gun laws are inconsistent and just lack common sense. 21 for a pistol w/ a waiting period, 18 for an AR-15, no waiting period. You can't have seizures and drive for fear you might seize and kill someone with your car, but you can be a loon or a no fly and walk out of Walmart in 10 minutes with the best killing machine in the world. Nuts can buy anything they want at a gun show. There are armed guards at the Whitehouse and banks, but we don't guard our most precious resource, our children? Shoot, in most schools we don't even have a metal detector. How come no one has ever thought of having a therapy dog at school that doubles as a gun sniffer? No one is even talking about common sense reforms because the NRA is paying them millions not to and for their A+ rating. I don't blame Marion Hammer for being in on the act either. I wouldn't expect the highest paid lobbyist in the world to be bad at it, would you? Vote for people, D or R, doesn't matter really, who will represent you instead of the cash. Until then, nothing is going to change, unless those paying the cash want it to, and I'm sorry to be the one to let you in on their little secret... They just want more cash...

Why do you need to carry guns anyway? You are all nuts! But go right ahead. I won't be visiting Florida anytime soon. I might get shot.

I carry a gun to protect myself and my family from a crazy person with a gun or a knife or a chainsaw. A crazy person will find a way to kill someone with anything. A responsible person will not shoot someone for the fun of it. Guns aren't the issue. People are the issue.

The crazy person is Marion Hammer and we know it now!

I call to liquidate the tax exempt foundation of the NRA, it is a danger to America's public health and children's safety!

I am not against you carrying a gun, as long as you are sane capable and responsible. But do you carry an AR-15? If not, why not? This is a weapon of war intended to kill many people at once, not to protect you from someone with a gun, knife or chainsaw. Common sense. Think about it. I don't know, but there is a good chance you are not part of a well-trained militia.

Why attack Florida more than other state killings, because Florida is a key electoral state for the presidential election. Sorry you kids had to go through this tragedy but you're being used by Democrats for votes. You know why they don't attack Chicago guns? Because Chicago is already Democrat. A whole lot more people have been killed there than anywhere else and obama did nothing. The media barely talks about it anymore. You want common sense laws? Why haven't the common sense laws we have already not being used? Stop and think about what's been happening and why. Ask questions why? Why the FBI did nothing? Why BSO didn't Baker act Cruz? Why on armed person at school that large? Don't just protest, ask why?

Because Chicago guns are purchased in Indiana which has virtually no gun laws!

So glad you choose to disenfranchise the victims . . . . . . . partisan continued misdirection . . . . . . PATHETIC . . .

Correction: that was suppose to say, Why only one armed person.

SO you boneheads really think that taking guns away will solve the problem?? We can all hold hands and sing kumbaya. Teaching the proper way to use a firearm is the goal of the NRA along with preserving our 1st. amendment from idiots like you that think doing away with guns will solve the problem. The recent shootings are the cause of Barack Hussein Obama's administration's, of lax border control and laws that were implemented along with salting agencies like the FBI,DOJ et al with incompetent left leaning individuals "just like you" that failed to do their job. If you think for one minute doing away with the 2nd. amendment rights let me know how all that's been working for Chicago?????

Swampfox. Very few are even talking about "taking guns away" or "doing away with the 2nd Amendment". That is a tired old talking point used to stir up emotions. The issue is keeping guns out of hands that they should not be in. Period. Oh, you're blaming the Black Man who was the former resident at the White House is also just one more tired talking point. Your moniker is appropriate. I'll give you that much.

Good people should have guns. There is no law that can stop a crazy person from doing damage to our society. If the system of laws already present were acted upon this Cruz guy would have been put behind bars a long time ago. If people did there jobs properly this would have never happened.

Ever stop to consider why Russian trolls parrot the propaganda contrived by the NRA and people Like Hammer? They clearly see that the NRA and its supporters are a destructive force that brings death and political and social dysfunction in the USA. They are witting and unwitting fifth columnists for Putin's campaign to Make Russia Great Again. I'm quite sure he is drinking vodka shots in celebration. Well played, Vlad!

You are the communist troll wishing to overturn the 2nd amendment with the intent of breaking the American spirit. MAGA.

Dear patriot boy. Get it over with. Take that mighty firearm - turn it around and place it under your chin or better yet in your mouth. Squeeze the trigger.Then all your problems will be over. Love aunt Alice.

For people who claim that Marion and the NRA are so violent......

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nancy smith
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