Death Threats Keep NRA Lobbyist Marion Hammer from Attending Gun Law Hearing
Marion Hammer, former NRA president. (Photo: Tampa Bay Times)
The anti-gun lobby’s campaign to silence American gun owners is working.
The Tallahassee Democrat reported yesterday that long-time NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer decided to skip a Florida county gun law hearing after receiving death threats targeting her and her family.
Hammer’s move comes after the mainstream media published several high-profile hit pieces deriding the pro-gun advocate for her work in the Florida legislature.
“The death threats come with the job,” she said in a Sunday email to Leon County Commissioner Bryan Desloge.
“I’ve dealt with it for many, many years. But it is so ugly this time NRA is insisting that I listen to my security advisers. It always amazes me how these people who claim to want to stop violence are so quick to threaten violence. I have never been afraid of them but it really makes me angry when they threaten my family.”
The “New Yorker”, “The Trace”, the “Orlando Sentinel”, and the “Tampa Bay Times” all published articles in recent weeks targeting Hammer and her pro-gun advocacy.
The New Yorker piece, written by The Trace’s Mike Spies, received the bulk of the attention. Spies paints Hammer as a kind of super-lobbyist who writes legislation, threatens legislators, and dictates gun policy for the entire state.
Though The Trace has scrubbed from its website any reference to Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety, an Internet Archive search reveals that the independent news site received its seed funding from Bloomberg’s outfit. That’s all you need to know about the reliability of Spies’ account.
In any case, the article did its work.
SEE ALSO: Florida University Students Wearing Empty Holsters to Class to Oppose Gun Control
Hammer didn’t attend the Leon County hearing, which was scheduled to discuss an ordinance requiring background checks and a three-day waiting period for all private firearm sales on publicly accessible property.
“Despite the county attorney’s claim to the contrary, the proposed ordinance is legally and constitutionally flawed,” said Hammer’s surrogate, Alex Hoffman. “The ordinance does reach beyond the authority contained in the Florida Constitution and it is therefore a violation of the Florida firearms preemption law.”
The commissioners voted 6-1 to pass the new ordinance.
Despite the increased threat level, some were still surprised Hammer didn’t show.
“Marion Hammer is always packing a weapon,” Tallahassee lawyer Julie Gallagher told the Democrat. “Surprised this would happen or she would cave to it.”
“I pack a firearm,” Hammer responded. “Nothing is a weapon until it is used as a weapon. When your boss tells you not to do something, you listen.”
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