Marion Hammer
Marion P. Hammer (born April 26, 1939) is an American gun advocate and lobbyist who was the first female president of the National Rifle Association of America (NRA), from 1995 to 1998.
Hammer is currently very active in lobbying the NRA positions and helping to write pro-gun legislation with the Florida State Legislature, including participation in Senate and House committee meetings following the mass shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on 14 February 2018.
[4] She married a man who also loved hunting and they entered shooting competitions together as part of "family recreational activities" which later included their children.
Instead of running, she claims she stood firmly in front of the vehicle with her six-shot .38-caliber revolver, that she always carried in her purse, aimed at the car.
[4] On December 5, 1995, Thomas Washington, who was president of the NRA for 18 months during a period that was sometimes "embattled", died as a result a heart attack suffered while deer hunting.
[4] New members included women, minorities, "hunters, target shooters and people who want to learn how to use guns to protect themselves from violent crime.
Media reports noted they may have been unlawful under Florida Statute 617.0833, which regulates the circumstances under which not-for-profit corporations may loan money to their directors or officers.
[16] She "lobbied for and eventually pushed through" a 1987 Florida law that allows Floridians who "have no criminal records or mental illness" to carry concealed weapons with concealed-carry (CCW) permits.
[4] In 2002, Hammer, on behalf of the NRA, "had lawmakers quietly move" the division handling the concealed weapons permit program to Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
[19] By June 2018 Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam said that his office had revoked 291 permits erroneously granted to people who did not pass background checks.
Hammer said, "No program that facilitates a constitutional right should be under a politically appointed agency head, it must be under an elected official answerable to the people.
"[22] According to the Orlando Weekly, Fried said that "Politics should have no role in our concealed weapons permit process — the current system has allowed groups like the NRA to control our state government for long enough.
"[22] The hundreds of emails from Hammer to the Department of Agriculture, made available online by the Tampa Bay Times, include complaints about denied CCW license renewals, spam phone calls and email, South Korean dogs, and a specific pest control company that she claimed damaged a house she owned.
The controversy surrounding the trial George Zimmerman, who fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, "focused attention once again on Florida's gun laws, and on Hammer's role in getting them passed.
"[2] Hammer told lawmakers "You can't expect a victim to wait before taking action to protect herself, and say: 'Excuse me, Mr. Criminal, did you drag me into this alley to rape and kill me or do you just want to beat me up and steal my purse?'"
[2] In a February 2, 2017 opinion piece, Hammer wrote that, in "the 1970s and 1980s, one of the more blatant areas of abuse by local governments was the unconstitutional regulation of Second Amendment rights.
[30] In June 2011 Governor Rick Scott, signed a "tough" new Florida statewide law, that "forbid city and county governments from enacting or enforcing local gun-control regulations."
She criticized the February 26, 2014 actions of the Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum who subsequently was sued by Florida Carry and the Second Amendment Foundation.
[32] Her letter included the November 30, 2017 News Service Florida weekly political briefing notes, launching Hammer's campaign to "purge" Justice Pariente from a case, "which centers on whether [Governor Scott, who is pro-gun] or his successor has the legal authority to appoint replacements for three justices" that "could have far-reaching implications for the makeup of the court".
"[33] In December 2017, Hammer responded to the rejection by the Florida Senate Judiciary Committee of pro-gun proposals that would have loosened gun laws regarding carrying concealed-weapons near courthouses, religious institutions, private schools, day care facilities, and the inadvertent display of handguns.
[34] She said that, the proposal to "allow Floridians with concealed-weapons licenses to carry firearms" at religious institutions, is a "private property-rights measure."
[38] On April 18, 2018, in her position as USF executive director and past president of the NRA, Hammer lambasted Simpson over his vote on SB 7026, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act.
"[33] In June 2022, it was announced that Hammer would retire as the state lobbyist for the NRA-Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) in Florida, taking on a new role as an adviser to the NRA, focused on national gun advocacy.
Marion Hammer, the NRA lobbyist who promoted the stand-your-ground law, created the Eddie Eagle GunSafe program in the late 1980s.
In their testimony in Tennessee in 2016, the NRA lobbyist said that the Eddie Eagle program was the most effective way "to reduce firearm-related accidents" regarding children.
[3] When Sally's husband left shortly after the diagnosis, she and her two young children, 3-year-old Eric and Kayla, who was under one at the time, went to live with Hammer.
In 2015 Southwest Florida Water Management District (Swiftmud), sued the Skyway Trap & Skeet Club in St. Petersburg for not building a barrier that would prevent spent ammunition from accumulating in neighboring Sawgrass Lake Park, a public wetland.
[47] Following the February 14, 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in which Nikolas Cruz killed fourteen students and three staff members using an AR-15 style rifle, Hammer participated in Senate and House committee meetings to advocate for the NRA.
On July 13, 2018, Hammer filed federal and state lawsuits seeking over $2 million in damages from five men who she claimed had harassed her in response to her appearances in these meetings.
[51][49] On November 28, 2018, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle dismissed Hammer's claims against Lawrence Sorensen, a California attorney who had sent her two emails on March 24 with graphic images of gunshot wounds.
