advertisement

SSN on Facebook SSN on Twitter SSN on YouTube RSS Feed

50 Comments
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

This is a very fair column. It simply states that everyone has a right to do their job. Some do it better than others.

Yes, Yes, Nancy must be right . . . . . . . let's not blame the NRA (I was once a member in my youth along with my career military dad, a lifetime member and "Golden Eagle of the NRA" - we both gave up our memberships years ago when the NRA became rightwing and began defending teflon bullets and individual ownership of military style weapons) . . . . . . . . THE REST CENSORED BY NANCY FOR NON-EXISTANT PROFANITY (appears triggered by use of President's name or Federal Bureau of Investigation's abbreviation - or discussing the demonizing of students protesting against guns). . . . . . . . PATHETIC

With the exception of my father, my whole family had renounced their lifetime memberships by the mid-80s. He finally came around after Sandy Hook.

When law enforcement office shooting someone why don’t they blame the gun?

Let's put this in perspective: The NRA was "born into existence" shortly after Lincoln's "Emancipation Proclamation" freed the Slaves in America, in order to provide self-preservation means to them in the "face of white resistance" to the proclamation which was just as rabid then as "Leftist chanting demonstrations for ALL causes" are at THIS particular 'moment in time'. The NRA is NOT the "enemy": "Frenzied, uncontrolled crowd anger and destructive actions" are the "enemies of a free society"! Today's "slaves" in Countries around the globe would "sell their souls" for our Second Amendment and an NRA to ensure its existence, as well as our own...

This is completely false. The NRA was not created for black people, not even close. It was created to teach gun safety to military recruits who were ill-trained to handle firearms, resulting in many horrific accidents. It was a laudable beginning, but they have become monsters. Yes, they are the enemy and they must be defeated.

You are correct, spot on. The first voice of reason on this article. Thank you.

Voice of Reason. You obviously don’t read much of what CBreeze says or you are just as incompetent as he his. According to the NRA it’s all or nothing. Background checks or mental test is just lost of revenue for their businesses and supporters. It’s always about the money. CBreeze all you do is preach (complain) about politicians doing it for the dollar. It’s funny how you always seem to over look that when it’s a conservative issue.

I just want it to been known the below anom post. Nancy, Hammer have blood on their hands........And it isn't the just the left saying it as nra members discussed with it all leave in droves.

Of course she is complicit in the murders of not just those students but 40k others dead from guns each yr......... Why is simple, she opposes even the most minimal regulations including gun owners taking them into schools that is now dead likely this session. ....They through republicans have even blocked studying gun deaths and collecting data on them make her and now you Nancy complicit along with all the other gun extremists that has killed 5k childern this yr from lax gun laws.........No matter what you say doesn't change these facts there are many dead because of the gun lobby and their enablers like most republicans and you Nancy. ....... deal with it.

AMEN!

to Anonymous - you are spot on

I hope you realize that if a responsible gun owner would have been able to carry on school grounds, they could have stopped the shooter in his tracks. But wait, let's completely ignore the fact that despite the fact that you aren't allowed to bring a weapon onto school campus, a weapon was still brought onto school campus. Drugs are illegal but guess what, people still do drugs. Criminals will ALWAYS find a way. Guns aren't the issue, PEOPLE are the issue.

WRONG. *** It is the prevalence of guns in our society. *** No one advocates taking your shotgun, hand gun, or hunting rifle. *** We just want an ASSAULT WEAPONS Ban. *** We had one, nationwide, from 1994 to 2004 after Ronald Reagan got shot, but the NRA backed and paid for Republicans NOT to reinstate the bill and it was dropped. *** So thank Tom Delay, Republican from Texas for that. *** I do not believe anything will happen until a Republican politician's child is lying dead on the floor of a classroom. *** They do not care about our children. *** It is obvious, from the president all the way down to to the county dog catcher. *** Republicans are bought and paid for by filthy NRA money. *** The only thing we as citizens can do, is VOTE THEM OUT NOW! *** Here is some info you might find interesting: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/nra-donations/?utm_term=.d4be9db9e653 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/13/nra-weakened-gun-control-laws http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/ http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/21/news/police-selling-seized-guns/index.html https://www.csgv.org/

"stopped the shooter in his tracks" That's the dream; reality is "pooped their pants and cried for mommy."

I wish that you had realized an armed deputy WAS on school grounds throughout the shooting (with 3 more who arrived before the shooting was over), and didn't even fire his weapon. If so, we might have been spared your post.

Good guy with a gun + bad guy with a gun = crossfire. Given that the new goal of school shooters is higher body counts, lots of good crossfire would increase body counts. When the police get there, which shooters do they take down? We can't ask our shooters to wear badges since that may violate their second amendment rights. I do wish this sorry myth would get a rest. It is tired of being dragged out.

Psyops folks. The NRA - and Marion Hammer - are doing Russia's work for it, by fear mongering and incite. http://www.psywarrior.com/psyhist.html

ANY time ANY thing happens that disagrees with its agenda, whether or not guns are involved, the left bares its teeth, foams at the mouth and howls like rabid dogs. It is not interested in common sense in any form and ANYone who stands against them is immediately and continually lied about and held up to public scorn while enjoying full support of the lamestream politically correct media.

The rabid dogs are those who support the NRA. Go back and read what you just wrote. You need to wipe the foam from your own mouth.

Pages

Comments are now closed.

nancy smith
advertisement
advertisement
Live streaming of WBOB Talk Radio, a Sunshine State News Radio Partner.

advertisement