I hadn’t thought of John Sigler since May 2013, when he abruptly quit as chairman of the state GOP, after overseeing one of the worst periods in the party’s history. Even then he was known mainly for his previous job, President of the National Rifle Association; he still serves on its Board of Directors. He ran and lost a race for Kent County Levy Court a few years ago, but the lawyer and former Dover cop has been out of the public eye in recent years.
Nothing brings the gun nuts out of the woodwork like a mass shooting, though. Sigler reared his head this weekend in the Delaware State News, where he penned the pro-NRA side of a point-counterpoint debate on gun control. The piece is a bathetic plea to NRA members not to accept blame for the Parkland shooting — as if that were an actual pressing danger. This should give you a hint of the tone:
You should never accept the blame for those who should themselves bear that blame. Don’t allow yourself to become a “scapegoat” for the failings of others. Don’t allow those who are truly responsible for those 17 deaths to blame you, your guns, or your NRA — don’t do it!…Blame those who did nothing: Blame the cops, the FBI, the school administrators, the sheriff, the cowardly cop who hid behind a post and did nothing — blame the teachers, counselors, friends and neighbors who did nothing. But don’t blame yourself, and don’t allow the haters and cynical politicians to blame you or the NRA.
That’s how Sigler pleads when he’s going before a general audience. When he’s preaching to his flock, like “Pastor Glock” at Ammoland.com, which sounds made-up but is not:
Pastor Glock,
It is good to see that you and I are united in our mutual opposition to confiscatory bump stock bans such as the one we are fighting here in Delaware.About a week before Thanksgiving, I was contacted by pro-gun Delaware legislators who asked me to help them develop a strategy in opposition to an anticipated bump stock ban – which I did, of course.
As expected, about six weeks later, anti-gun zealots in the Delaware General Assembly introduced HB 300 which would have made instant felons out of law-abiding citizens, mandated governmental confiscation of their legally purchased property without just compensation and would have outlawed currently bump stocks, trigger cranks and a broad range of other after-market devices, all vaguely defined. In other words HB 300 was, and remains, a very bad bill, indeed.
Thus far we have successfully amended HB 300 so as to dramatically narrow its scope and limit its negative impact on law-abiding citizens – but it is still a very bad bill – and must be defeated.
Notice the bad-faith positioning there: He pretends he’s against the law because it would confiscate property without compensation, when we all know he’d be against it even if it did provide for compensation. This apparently passes for slick lawyering in Kent County.
Mr. Sigler’s work with legislators in fighting HB 300 was not mentioned by the State News. Nor was his position as Director of the .50 Caliber Institute, devoted to keeping high-bore sniper rifles in civilian hands for shooting-sport purposes despite law-enforcement opposition. He was identified only as a Dover lawyer and past NRA president.
And he’s wrong about the NRA. It worked for years to oppose and overturn the assault-weapons ban. The blood of Parkland students is on all their hands — especially John Sigler’s.