Former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Gary Hart on Wednesday called on what he termed "legitimate gun owners" to form a new organization separate from the National Rifle Association (NRA), one that shares the belief that military-style assault weapons have no place in U.S. society.
"Clearly we're in a pattern in this country. The amount of gun violence is escalating. Of the 12 most serious mass killings in America, six or seven have occurred in the last decade or so. So there is clear escalation here and the principal gun lobby is resisting any change," Hart told HuffPost Live host Marc Lamont Hill.
"Of the legitimate gun owners who do have, according to the Supreme Court, the right to protect their homes by owning guns -- and sportsmen -- I suggested to them that they form their own organization that is separate from the predominate National Rifle Association, which refuses to cooperate, at least up to now, in controlling the military or military-like weapons that have no place in home security or in the field," Hart continued.
Hart also wrote about the NRA's defense of assault weapons in a blog post published Monday on The Huffington Post:
The National Rifle Association, which claims to speak for America's gun owners, makes only one argument for assault weapons: if "they" take away our assault weapons, then "they" will come for our sporting guns. Never mind that the mysterious "they," purposely left vague to serve the needs of paranoia, is the government of the United States whose president and members of Congress are all elected by a majority of American citizens. read more ...