Gun-Hugger John Sigler Working Behind the Scenes to Scuttle HB 300

Filed in National by on March 12, 2018

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.

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  1. AQC says:

    Sigler ought to worry about getting his scummy employers to accept responsibility for their own shitty actions.

  2. Alby says:

    A Kent County fella who’d rather shoot pigeons than trap muskrats. Go figure.

  3. RE Vanella says:

    Fellate my sig sauer to completion to own the libs.

  4. Paul says:

    This is how common sense advocates lose. They take a position on an issue hoping they won’t “offend” anyone. Then the opposition comes in and cleans house with cash and fear, and the gun huggers keep going into schools and creating mayhem. This is why the legislation should be to ban military weapons from the public sphere now, before a shooting occurs in Delaware. This is a serious issue of leadership that should be taken seriously by those we depend upon to maintain public safety, and I’m talking about the legislature. Neither military weapons nor half measures have no place here. Listen up, pols, it’s time to fight for an end to this madness. Delaware is a good place as any to start. Do your job you were elected to do, even if it costs you your job. That is exactly the job description.

  5. RE Vanella says:

    I’m trying to be as offense as I can.

  6. chris says:

    I think he ran for a Levy Court seat a few years ago and lost….better lobbyist than candidate.

  7. Where the bleep is the assault weapons ban bill?

    John, how about showing the same leadership in making kids safer in schools as you did in hiding state payoffs to business from the public?

    Oh, that’s right. You feel ‘passionately’ about what the Chamber wants. Kids getting slaughtered, not so much.

  8. bamboozer says:

    Read the article, a clarion call to mouth breathing ammosexuals everywhere, as such perfect for the Kent and Sussex areas.

  9. spktruth says:

    It’s obvious and clear to me the GOP GunRunners/Lovers care more about their guns than their children and grandchildren. The Chamber has been calling the shots legislatively for decades…they are a problem in every state.

  10. Alby says:

    You can see why these people are impossible to parody. “The .50 Caliber Institute” and “Ammoland.com” cannot be improved upon.