Malloy: NRA’s LaPierre acts like a circus clown
(CNN) - Responding to criticism from the National Rifle Association over Connecticut's new gun laws, Gov. Dan Malloy argued the pro-gun group's executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, is simply blowing smoke.
"Wayne reminds me of the clowns at the circus - they get the most attention. That's what he's paid to do," Malloy said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."
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The Democratic governor on Thursday signed into law some of the nation's strictest gun regulations, following the state's devastating school shooting in December in Newtown, which left 20 children and six adults dead.
The new Connecticut laws include the addition of more than 100 weapons to the state’s list of banned assault weapons - including the semiautomatic Bushmaster rifle, one of the firearms used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. The law also bans the sale of magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition, as well as armor-piercing bullets. Buyers will need a certificate to buy ammunition.
It also requires background checks for all gun purchases.
LaPierre said this week that the only people who will follow the new regulations are law-abiding gun owners, not criminals.
"I think the problem with what Connecticut did is the criminals, the drug dealers, the people that are going to do horror and terror, they aren't going to cooperate," LaPierre said on Fox News. "I mean, all you're doing is making the lawbooks bigger for the law-abiding people."
Asked who will be most affected by the new laws, Malloy said they'll be "probably a little tougher on everybody."
"This guy is so out of whack, it's unbelievable," Malloy told CNN's chief political correspondent, Candy Crowley, referring to LaPierre.
Connecticut became the third state to pass tough measures since the December rampage in Newtown. New York and Colorado passed gun control legislation limiting magazine capacity, among other provisions.
Malloy pointed to the fact that the overwhelming majority of Americans favor the idea of more background checks, a proposal found in legislation currently sitting before the U.S. Senate. The NRA, however, opposes that bill.
"I can't get on a plane, as the governor of the state of Connecticut, without somebody running a background check on me. Why should you be able to buy a gun? Or buy armor-piercing munitions? It doesn't make any sense. He doesn't make any sense," he said.
Another controversial measure in the Connecticut law is the requirement to register pre-existing magazines that hold more rounds than the new limit. Malloy said the registry was needed so that there are no new high-capacity magazines in Connecticut, and so law enforcement can tell the difference between the ones that already existed in the state and the new ones.
“If you bring a magazine that you purchased in another state into our state, it's illegal. Period,” he said.
The NRA last week released detailed recommendations for its proposal to train and arm adults to keep watch in schools as a way to protect kids from shooters. It also had proposals for mental health programs.
Asked if there was anything in the NRA plan that he agreed with, Malloy said "precious little," adding that schools need tougher protection barriers from intruders - but not necessarily armed guards.
"What this is about is the ability of the gun industry to sell as many guns to as many people as possible - even if they're deranged, mentally ill, a criminal background, they don't care. They want to sell guns," Malloy argued.
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i agree with malloy
Unfortunately the clown is winning the gun control debate. Doesn't say much about the discourse on gun control. Gun control ranks up there with abortion, religion, and politics as topics you don't bring up for discussion at family dinners.
The truth hurts. Background checks on all sales is sane and rational. It doesn't infringe on the second amendment. Only one way to cut down on crazy people getting guns is to check to see if persons buying gun has a history !!
Instead of putting tougher laws on the books why doesnt Connecticunt enforce the laws presently on the books....like say for instance start with probation and law enforcement officers stopping by and searching locations where felons live for fire arms and drug dogs. It is perfectly legal as a stipulation of release. As well as a condition of pribation.
Behind all the rhetoric is the second amendment, "the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" Look up infringed in the dictionary. What we need to do is go on a massive filing of litigation against states that are passing these unconstitutional laws. Beyond the law is the hypocrisy of it all. Alcohol does far more damage to our society than do firearms. Yet, there are no background checks, training, registration or permitting of alcohol consumers. I can buy as much alcohol as I want, at the % content of alcohol I want. If used irresponsibly and I rape, molest, beat up or crash into somebody under the influence, there is no media frenzy attacking alcohol. Hypocristy at its best.
90% clear majority of rational Americans supports gun safety measures such as background checks.
NRA "leadership" and 10% extreme followers are against these reasonable measures for US.
Shameful.
The Governor best watch that his nose does not grow too much....Firstly I am not a gun owner, nor do I like guns, however what the NRA boss is not untrue. Look at the Canadian gun registry, it has been an gigantic failure. The cost of this stupid legislation skyrocketed, nothing changed, the bad are still getting guns in a country that does not allow hand guns etc.....Stop the guns at the source and this is how gun violence will subside. Stop making more and more weapons, control the borders, make all gun crime a federal offense, and punish gun crime with real hard time, this will slow down and eventually stop it....Background checks are good, but the be all and end all
get rid of lapierre and the nra gun lobby, they are poison.
Loren, you conveniently left out the first half of your sacred amendment: "A well regulated militia being necessary for the security of a free state..." Basically, the second amendment was intended to safeguard something akin to the National Guard, which is VERY well regulated.
NRA Wayne LaPierre ,
clowns with guns at the circus .
background checks for what? everyone talks about them as if they are universally defined. if you are doing a background check based on going to a shrink, people will not seek help. its a serious invasion of privacy to track what I say to a therapist, record it and then use it against me (for any number of reasons, not just gun purchases).
in addition, if background checks are so useful why do you need limits on magazine sizes, etc? if the crazies cant buy a gun why restrict magazine purchases for people that passed the test?
these kneejerk reactions to "do something", especially when it involves multiple constitutional rights being limited (or violated) is simply not smart. whats being proposed doesn't just potentially violate the 2nd amendment rights but also the 4th and potentially the 5th.
this is why major parties need to go. the insanity spreads without people really thinking. they just assume their party or political leaders have already thought things through and made the right choice....
Inforce the laws that are in place. Take the stigma out of needing mental help. More laws are not needed just better inforcement. New laws do nothing to stop idiots and people that need mental help. This is the real world, there is no "Shangrala". If these progressives keep passing laws we will all be wearing the same clothes and cutting our hair the same. Whoa, I think China and N. Korea already tried that.
"I can't get on a plane, as the governor of the state of Connecticut, without somebody running a background check on me. Why should you be able to buy a gun?"
All that means is that the present police-state has imposed its presence on planes, but hasn't succeeded in doing the same with respect to guns.
And I have to point out what the Governor, in his ignorance, apparently doesn't understand: There's a Constitutional right to have guns; there's no Constitutional right to get on a plane, and the federal government is taking advantage of that.
So let me understand, LaPierre logic is since criminals don't obey laws then just don't make them.......
so le't snot have a law punishing murder, anyway law abiding citizens are not going to murder anyone anyway while criminals will regardless of the law.......
Great logic, I cannot not agree with Malloy, LaPierre is a circus clown!
"A WELL REGULATED MILITIA, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed"
Think about what 'Well Regulated' means.........the NRA believes anyone should be able to buy a gun, without any background check, from wherever they can, and use it wherever they want. That's just crazy. Look to Australia, Germany, and Britain to see how common sense gun laws work.
Among advanced nations, the US leads the way by far in per capita gun deaths, and especially in the category of 'children murdered by guns'.
Get rid of the criminals, not the guns.
I agree Mr. Malloy & kabc
Patrick, you may want to check the SCOTUS interpretation of that Ammendment in every decision ever rendered. The God given and guaranteed right to arm yourself "shall not be infringed". The National Guard is each and every law abiding citizen. Have no doubt that when this reaches the SCOTUS that all of this "feel good" nonsense will be overturned. And as in Chicago's case, I hope these gun grabbers get to pay the NRA back for infringing on law abiding citizens God given and Constitutional rights. Semper Fidelis
Patrick in Wisconsin,
The Supreme Court disagrees with you, most recently in Heller v. District of Columbia in 2008 and McDonald v. Chicago in 2010. In both cases, gun ownership was found to be an individual right irrespective of any organised military force.
The fact that LaPierre and the NRA are so desperate to distract us from is this:
The criminals, drug dealers, "the people who aren't going to cooperate" can now be locked up just for possessing their weapons of mass local destruction.
These "blue-urban" Governors are simply trying to buy yhe urban vote to be re-elected by using the murders of these innocents as the emotional "hook" to gain the votes.
The laws are already on the books, and yet these "blue" state governments do not enforce them when it comes to mental illness and the criminals.
I think this governor is mad that he is losing the firearm industry jobs & taxes that are about to move out of his state.
So slapping at the NRA he thinks is a easy popular quick fix for what is about to happen to his state for what he failed to do...enforce the laws the state.
Giving away personal freedoms in some pursuit of 100% safety was what NAZI Germany was all about as there their government was replaced by a single party intend on keeping power at all costs to Germany & the World...
I am glad you are not my Governor and I am a proud member of the NRA for many decades now...so expect us to fight back against all who threaten our Bill of Rights and allow criminals to murder by not enforcing our laws.
Got that right, but so are all the politicians ignoring 90% of their constituents in favor of NRA money.
he fact that LaPierre and the NRA are so desperate to distract us from is this:
The criminals, drug dealers, "the people who aren't going to cooperate" can now be locked up just for possessing their weapons of mass local destruction.
Namejack...."If these progressives keep passing laws we will all be wearing the same clothes and cutting our hair the same." I suggest before you complain about all these laws that progressives are passing that you look at what republican legislatures are doing all over the country. For a party that says they want the government out of your life and less government they are passing more laws that interfere with more peoples lives than progressives. Also all the talk about the constitution is a farce. The right reads th constitution the same way they read their bibles, paying attention only to the parts they like and conviently ignoring the rest. Look at laws for instance in the Carolinas that were recently proposed. Establishment of a "State" religion, Forbidden by the 1st amendment. Anti-abortiion bill after anti-abortion bill even though the SC ruled in Roe that government had no business interfering in a womans right to choose. Anti-Sodomy laws that apply even to hetro couples dictating what a married couple can and can't do in the privacy of their own bedroom, which in texas was also struck down by the SC. Laws to mandate counsuling and a two year waiting period before you can get a divorce. Smaller, less intrusive government my foot. The party that always seeks to take away more peoples freedoms is always the right.
Malloy is the clown, the NRA has more members and supporters than his state has residents.