On 6 April 2018, U.S. Representative from South Carolina’s Ralph Norman held a “Coffee with your Congressmen” event aimed at allowing constituents to voice concerns and communicate with their representative.
According to accounts provided by volunteers for the South Carolina chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, who arrived at the meeting to discuss gun reform, Rep. Norman placed his own loaded gun on the table during a discussion to make a point.
As reported[1] by the Washington Post:
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) placed the gun on a table for “several minutes” while arguing that the presence of the weapon in the room made his constituents safer, according to volunteers for the South Carolina chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
“I’m not going to be a Gabby Giffords,” Norman told the Post and Courier afterward, referring to the 2011 shooting of an Arizona congresswoman during a public appearance in the Tucson area. “I don’t mind dying, but whoever shoots me better shoot well, or I’m shooting back.”
In a statement posted to multiple social media accounts run by the Representative, Norman said that “the media, once again, has demonstrated their agenda of pushing a narrative that is not true.” However, the congressman’s own account[2] of the event made to “set the record straight” largely confirms that narrative:
Many constituents were in attendance at our meeting. I chose to begin a discussion with a group wearing “Mothers Demand Action” shirts. I hoped to have an engaging, substantive conversation regarding violence in our country and what brings a person to be so filled with evil and hate that they want to kill innocent people.
During our
