Tom Selleck steps down from NRA's board of directors

[The Legion]

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2018/09/19/tom-selleck-steps-down-from-nras-board-directors-report.html

Published September 19, 2018

FoxNews.com

“Blue Bloods” star Tom Selleck has stepped down from the National Rifle Association’s board of directors, the actor's publicist confirmed to Fox News.

Selleck, 73, has been a member of the NRA since he was 8 years old, The Trace, a non-profit website covering gun violence in America, reported Tuesday. He also received the most votes in the board’s election in 2017. A spokeswoman said he resigned because of time commitments.

Selleck, an avid gun collector, has donated a few rifles and revolvers from his movies to the NRA’s National Firearms Museum.

 

Annett Wolf, the actor’s publicist, told The Trace that Selleck stepped down from the board “due to his work schedule,” but noted that he was never truly “active on the board.”

Selleck is still an NRA member, Wolf added.

Wolf confirmed to Fox News that Selleck stepped down from the board and declined to comment further. A request for a comment from the NRA was not immediately answered.

“He has nothing to do with policy,” Wolf told the outlet. “He’s never been active on the board or anything the NRA engages in. He’s almost always been a silent board member."

The former face of “Magnum P.I.” came under fire following comments he made on “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” in 1999 for his firearms advocacy. He went on the talk show to promote the film “The Love Letter,” but instead got into a debate with O’Donnell about guns in the wake of the Columbine massacre.

“But you can’t say that guns don’t bear a responsibility,” O’Donnell asked. “If the makers of the TEC-9 assault rifle… Why wouldn’t the NRA be against assault rifles? This is a gun that can shoot five bullets in a second. This is the gun that those boys brought into the school. Why the NRA wouldn’t say, as a matter of compromise, 'We agree, assault weapons are not good.'”

“I’m not…I can’t speak for the NRA,” he replied.

“But you’re their spokesperson Tom, so you have to be responsible for what they say,” O’Donnell said.

“But I’m not a spokesperson. I’m not a spokesperson for the NRA,” Selleck said.

MSNBC star Lawrence O’Donnell also brought up Selleck’s role in the NRA in 2013 following the Sandy Hook shooting, saying he questioned Selleck’s “humanity.”

[bersaguy]

At 72 years old and involved in the filming of Blue Bloods and other things he may want to do in his life I don't blame him for stepping down. He did not pull his membership and is still a member. Just not a board member. There comes a time in everyones life that there are changes that need to be made for them to be more comfortable in later years. All I will say is his leaving the board is his choice and I can respect that.............JMHO

[ChanceMcCall]

Those who are public figures face a higher level of pressure than do most of us when they advocate a pro gun position. I applaud those who do it anyway, and understand those who do not step up publicly.

I have been involved in these issues since the 1970s at both the national level and the state level in Illinois. In the early 1980s I put together a special fund for use in Illinois to advance pro gun positions at a time when individual cities were outlawing gun ownership altogether. The unique feature was that we found a way legally to protect the identities of those contributing. Few of them belonged to either state or national pro gun groups. 

Why? Because they were gun owning and gun loving business owners who didn't want their careers ruined or their businesses ruined by liberal anti gun groups. When we showed them how to contribute without being identified, they flocked to contribute money. One guy owned a hotel and restaurant chain, another a chain of men's clothing stores, another a furniture chain, and yet another several radio stations. The list went on and on.

Working with the ILA, those funds were put to very good use and it wasn't long until the state passed a preemption law prohibiting municipalities and counties from passing their own gun ownership laws. While it didn't go far enough, it did accomplish quite a bit given the times.

I was in a position to do this because my income did not depend on the public at large, and because much of my income derived from businesses I was not publicly connected with. If the circumstances has been different, I also would have been circumspect. Tom Selleck gets a thumbs up from me for what he has had to endure.