South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman Pulls Out Loaded Gun In Constituent Meeting To Make Point About Safety

Anti-gunners freak out.

A South Carolina Republican congressman is not backing down from critics after he pulled out his own personal — and loaded — .38-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun during a meeting with constituents Friday.

U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-Rock Hill, told The Post and Courier he pulled out the weapon and placed it on a table for several minutes in attempt to make a point that guns are only dangerous in the hands of criminals.

“I’m not going to be a Gabby Giffords,” Norman said afterward, referring to the former Arizona Democratic congresswoman who was shot outside a Tucson-area grocery store during a constituent gathering in 2011.

Norman was speaking to constituents about gun violence during a public meeting at the Rock Hill Diner. The act drew immediate criticism from Democrats and others.

Lori Freemon, a volunteer with the South Carolina chapter of a gun control group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, argued Norman’s actions were “a far cry from what responsible gun ownership looks like.”

“I had looked forward to a respectful dialogue with my representative about common-sense gun violence prevention policies,” said Freemon, one of three people who were talking to Norman at the time.

“Instead, I felt unsafe when he insisted on showing us his loaded gun and keeping it out on the table for much of our conversation,” she said.

The incident happened at one of the many “coffee with constituents” meetings the freshman lawmaker hosts around South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District.

Norman said he pulled out the gun, pointed it away from the meeting attendees and put it on a table for about five minutes while they continued their conversation over breakfast.

The move, Norman said, was intended to prove “guns don’t shoot people; people shoot guns.”

Norman is a state concealed carry permit holder and said he regularly brings his gun with him when out in public.

If anyone walked into the diner and started shooting, Norman told the attendees, he would be able to protect them because of his gun.

“I don’t mind dying, but whoever shoots me better shoot well or I’m shooting back,” he told The Post and Courier.[…]

Lori Carter, who also attended the meeting, said Norman put the gun on the table about 20 minutes into the conversation. She said he had just finished telling the group that gun violence is a spiritual, mental or people issue, not a gun issue.

“And then he chose to take the gun out and put it on the table not knowing if any of us had mental health issues,” said Carter, a public school teacher from Charlotte, N.C.

“What was to prevent me from leaning across the table to take that gun?” she said. “So to me, it was contradictory.”

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