Rob Hawkins: NRA partly responsible for killings

Tragedies like the most recent one in Charleston, S.C., require only an angry or hate-filled person and a gun. Getting a gun is easy because the National Rifle Association, which gets income from every gun sale, has opposed all sorts of efforts to limit who can access a gun.

Although NRA was established as a gun-safety organization and not long ago supported universal background checks, it has become a gun-promotion organization, now opposes universal background checks and shows little regard for the safety of innocent people, even children.

Every member of the NRA should feel at least a little guilty for the killings of the nine church members in Charleston (and dozens of others over the past few years), because membership in and support of NRA contributes to gun promotion and impedes gun-safety efforts that might reduce the sale of guns.

All members of NRA should seriously consider whether they want to be partly responsible for tragedies like that in Charleston (and all the other places one could name).

This story was originally published June 27, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Rob Hawkins: NRA partly responsible for killings."