The National Rifle Association released a laudatory letter Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand sent to the organization more than a decade ago after she called the group the “worst organization in this country.”
“I appreciate the work that the NRA does to protect gun owners rights, and I look forward to working with you for many years in Congress,” Gillibrand, who was then serving in the House, wrote in the letter dated Sept. 19, 2008.
Gillibrand detailed her support for gun rights in the letter, saying she opposed “outright banning” guns based on cosmetic features as well as creating arbitrary time periods to limit the purchase of firearms.
“I share your concerns about these and other attempts to that could contribute to the slippery slope of government confiscation of people’s firearms based on the arbitrary whims of politics and public opinion,” she wrote to Chris Cox, the executive director of the NRA’s lobbying arm.
In a town hall with Fox News on Sunday, the 2020 hopeful had a different opinion. The New York Democrat said the NRA has helped spread hate.
Read Gillibrand’s full letter here ➡️ https://t.co/hzGNdAsJdK pic.twitter.com/iwUr35kAm7
— NRA (@NRA) June 3, 2019
“I think the most outrageous thing that has happened to our democracy is how much fear and division and hate has been spread,” she said when asked how she would prevent mass shootings. “I think the NRA is the worst organization in this country for doing exactly that. They care more about their profits than the American people.”
She also called on Americans to “stand up to the greed and corruption of the NRA.”
