Top Gun Lobbyist: If GOP Loses SCOTUS, We Might ‘Have To Resort To Bullet Box’

Larry Pratt, President of Gun Owners of America, talks at a Second Amendment news conference, Tuesday, March 14, 2006 at the Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

The former head of an influential pro-gun lobbying group said over the weekend that losing the White House could mean pro-gun activists “have to resort to the bullet box” to protect the Second Amendment.

In a conversation on his “Gun Owners News Hour,” Larry Pratt, executive director emeritus of Gun Owners of America, interviewed Robert Knight, a fellow at the conservative American Civil Rights Union, who said a Democrat taking the White House and replacing the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia would pose “great peril” to gun rights.

“At that point, we would have to come to an understanding, which we’ve been sort of taught, it’s been taught out of us, that the courts do not have the last word on what the Constitution is,” Pratt said on the show, in remarks first flagged by RightWingWatch.

“And we may have to reassert that constitutional balance, and it may not be pretty,” he continued. “So, I’d much rather have an election where we solve this matter at the ballot box than have to resort to the bullet box.”

Knight replied, “Well, there’s impeachment, too.”

Pratt previously made veiled references to gun violence as the leader of Gun Owners of America. He once said “the Second Amendment was designed for people” like President Obama and recently made a similar remark about Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland.

Listen to the exchange below via RightWingWatch:

Latest Livewire
238
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. If a Muslim were to say something like that and replace bullet box with bomb box,…
    But its ok for a gun lobby white guy to openly discuss assassination.

  2. Clearly not one of the good guys, so no guns for him. Creep.

  3. “And we may have to reassert that constitutional balance, and it may
    not be pretty," he continued. "So, I’d much rather have an election
    where we solve this matter at the ballot box than have to resort to the
    bullet box.”

    Well there is it. Clear as day.

  4. Yeah. “If we don’t win we’ll start shooting until we get our way”.

    Hey Sanders supporters, you still think voting against Hillary is a great idea?

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

232 more replies

Participants

Avatar for lestatdelc Avatar for ignatius_donnelly Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for imkmu3 Avatar for commiedearest Avatar for randyabraham Avatar for whiteboar Avatar for arrendis Avatar for daveyjones64 Avatar for sherlock1 Avatar for jjrothery Avatar for borisjimbo Avatar for nymund Avatar for captaincommonsense Avatar for bardi Avatar for khaaannn Avatar for azjude Avatar for darrtown Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for emilianoelmexicano Avatar for tena Avatar for antisachetdethe Avatar for firewing2 Avatar for owlcroft

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: