NRA's Marion Hammer stands her ground

cnn.com ^ | April 15, 2012 | Ann O'Neill

[kanawa]

Marion Hammer was 5 when she first held a gun in her hands. Her grandfather handed her a .22 bolt-action single-shot rifle and told her to hunt down a rabbit or a squirrel for dinner. She practiced first, aiming at cans lined up on the wooden fence.

"I remember seeing a great big red tomato right on the front of that can," she recalled in 1995 as she ascended to the presidency of the powerful National Rifle Association. "And on my first shot, I drilled the tomato dead center."

She's in her 70s now -- a 4-foot, 11-inch granny gone gray. But she's still drilling the tomato, dead center, as an unblinking gun rights advocate. The way she sees it, if the bad guys are armed to the teeth, then the good guys should be able to defend themselves.

[Paisan]

“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?’”

Amen.