Ex-NRA leader compares assault weapons ban to racial discrimination

The former president of the National Rifle Association invoked both conspiracy theories and racial discrimination to decry a potential ban on assault weapons on an NRA radio show Friday.

"Banning people and things because of the way they look went out a long time ago," Marion Hammer told host Ginny Simone. "But here they are again. The color of a gun. The way it looks. It's just bad politics."

According to Media Matters, Hammer's interview was in response to Sen. Dianne Feinstein's (D-CA) proposed ban, which is based on a firearm's capacity, rather than its appearance.

However, Simone encouraged Hammer's inaccurate claim.

"They even admit this is about banning the ugliest guns, it's about cosmetics and it has nothing to do about how a firearm works," the host said.

As Feinstein explained in a press release last month, her proposed ban -- a revival of legislation she authored that was in effect from 1994 to 2004 -- names specific types of "military-style" weapons, while exempting both legally-bought weapons and weapons specifically used for hunting.

Hammer said the previous law "paled in comparison" to Feinstein's new proposal, a response to last month's mass school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in which the gunman used an AR-15 assault rifle, among other weapons.

"We've tried to tell people that in order to control the masses they have to take your guns," she insisted. "We saw it in Cuba. I mean we have so many Cuban-Americans who understand. But there are just too many people who don't believe it can happen here. And I hope they are right, but in order to keep it from happening here it's going to be a massive, expensive and long fight."

Watch Hammer's interview with Simone, as posted by Media Matters on Friday, here.

[Image via Shutterstock]