HBO “Real Time” host Bill Maher says his own political party in at least partly to blame for the shooting of Trayvon Martin.
On HLN’s “Dr. Drew” on Tuesday night, Maher explained that the Democratic Party bowing to the National Rifle Association on the issue of gun control made it possible for the so-called “Stand Your Ground” legislation to become law.
“And of course, the law is what has to change,” Maher said. “I mean, that, I think, is what really is getting people upset is that even if we arrest this guy, there’s no guarantee that Florida is going to change this basically anyone who scares you, you can shoot law, which is insane. And this is something we’re going to talk about on my show this week, the idea that this is what happens in America when one political party, in this case, the Democrats, completely rolls over on an issue, in this case, gun control.”
Maher traced the origins of the Democratic Party’s weak stance on gun control after the 2000 election in which then-Vice President Al Gore lost his home state of Tennessee to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush because of his tough stance toward the NRA.
“Somewhere along the way, about 10 to 12 years ago, certainly, after Al Gore lost the election and lost his home state of Tennessee and a number of swing states because he was a little too hard on the NRA,” Maher continued. “He only voted with them 75 percent of the time. The Democrats got it in their head that this gun control was a loser issue for them, and they could never stand up, as they should.
“So, what you have here is the NRA getting absolutely everything they want. They got so much of what they want that they had to start inventing stuff that didn’t exist. Like, that’s how we got the stand your ground law. They invented a scenario where what if liberals try to take away our right to shoot someone who comes in our home?”
“Well, we’re going to have to take it one step farther,” he continued. “You’re going to have to have that right when you’re actually on the street, which is insane. And that’s where we have gotten to, a place of insanity because the Democrats rolled over on gun control.”
Later Maher went on to note the uptick in gun sales, which he said has something to do with racism.
“You know, this is because there’s a black president, who, by the way, has never said a word about taking away your guns, but the fear out there is so great that they cannot keep up with the orders,” Maher said. “They got more than a million orders last month for guns.”
And ultimately according to Maher, the rules of so-called “gun sanity” goes away when bipartisanship is no longer possible.
“Gun sanity, which is what — it used to be a bipartisan concept, gun sanity,” he said. “But as I say, that goes out the window when the right-wing gets everything they want.”
Maher made news last month when he donated $1 million to the pro-President Barack Obama Priorities USA Action super PAC.
