By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
UPDATE: The Democrat mayor of Grand Rapids, Mich., who is taking heat after his statement during a Monday evening forum that gun owners should feel ashamed and a video of him making the comments has gone viral across social media, has “respectfully declined to be interviewed,” according to a spokesman for the city.
The brief telephone conversation with spokesman Steve Guitar ended as quickly as it began.
Mayor David LaGrand has been quoted by the Daily Caller, and Grand Rapids station WMXI/Fox 17 has posted the video online as part of a broader story about the forum. The video has also been posted to Facebook, where it has gotten some 77,000 views.
LaGrand’s comments were blunt.
“Nobody gardens with a gun, right? Nobody changes their tire with a gun.,” LaGrand stated. “What they’re for is killing human beings and so it’s really hard. I think as a community we have to start having some shaming around gun possession. I think if you’ve got a gun, you should be ashamed of yourself. I really do.
“Now, I’m sorry, that’s gonna be the soundbite of the night,” he continued, “and the NRA, the NRA is gonna be mad at me, but like, you know, I, I get that we got a Second Amendment, I get it. But, you know, you also should be ashamed of yourself if you smoke. That’s not against the law. I think if you own a gun, you should be ashamed of yourself, and you should really do some self-reflection. And I think that’s, I, I just see so much more harm just like cigarettes. I see so much harm, more harm done than benefit.”
A video of his remarks may be viewed here.
When TGM reached out to Mayor LaGrand for comment, we were initially referred to Dave Green, a communications officer with the City of Grand Rapids. The brief return call from Guitar lasted less than a minute.
LaGrand’s remarks came during a regular session called “Mayor Monday,” according to the Daily Caller.
In addition to the Second Amendment, the Michigan State Constitution (Article 1, Section 6) states, “Every person has the right to keep and bear arms for the defense of himself and the state.”
Michigan’s economy gets a major boost from hunting and recreational shooting, and this year the state is receiving more than $23.9 million from the federal Pittman-Robertson federal aid to wildlife program, administered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Revenues for that program are generated by a special excise tax on firearms and ammunition, paid by the manufacturers. Since the late 1930s, Pittman-Robertson has raised more than $31 billion for wildlife conservation.
