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NRA Board Member Charles Cotton Blames Pastor Pinckney For His Own Murder In Charleston

NRA Blames Slain Pastor For His Own Murder
Paul Vale
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A board member of the National Rifle Association has responded to the killing of nine people in an African-American church on Wednesday by blaming the pastor and state senator who was gunned down in the massacre.

Writing on the TexasCHLForum.com, Charles Cotton said Clementa Pinckney was to blame for the slaughter as he voted against a law that would have allowed congregants to carry concealed guns in churches. To clarify: the NRA is blaming a dead man for his own murder.

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Suspected killer Dylann Roof appears via video link at the courthouse in South Carolina on Friday. The judge set his bail at $1 million

Cotton wrote: "[Pinckney] voted against concealed-carry. Eight of his church members who might be alive if he had expressly allowed members to carry handguns in church are dead. Innocent people died because of his position on a political issue."

Remarkably, Cotton did not blame Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old who was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of the murders at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, a crime authorities are calling racially motivated.

Roof was arraigned on Friday, appearing in a South Carolina court via video link. Families of the victims addressed the suspected killer, many telling the young man they forgive him for his suspected crime.

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The daughter of Ethel Lance, 70 told Roof: "I just want everyone to know, I forgive you. You took something very precious away from me.” A large crowd gathered outside the Charleston courthouse for the arraignment, many holding hands, singing songs and joining in prayer.

On Friday, US Federal authorities revealed they are investigating the shooting as a potential act of domestic terrorism, and not just as a potential hate crime.

"The department’s investigation of the shooting incident in Charleston, South Carolina, is ongoing," Department of Justice spokeswoman Emily Pierce said in a statement. "This heartbreaking episode was undoubtedly designed to strike fear and terror into this community, and the department is looking at this crime from all angles, including as a hate crime and as an act of domestic terrorism.”

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Charleston Shooting
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A man kneels across the street from where police gather outside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church following the shooting Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in Charleston, South Carolina. (credit:Wade Spees / The Post And Courier / AP)
(02 of25)
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Worshippers embrace following a group prayer across the street from the scene of the shooting. A white man opened fire during a prayer meeting inside the historic black church, killing multiple people, including the pastor, in an assault that authorities described as a hate crime. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(03 of25)
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A distraught man is comforted as a group of concerned people arrive inquiring about the shooting. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Charleston police officers search for a shooting suspect outside the Emanuel AME Church. (credit:Matthew Fortner / The Post And Courier / AP)
(05 of25)
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Lisa Doctor joins a prayer circle early Thursday, June 18, 2015, down the street from Emanuel following the shooting. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(06 of25)
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Worshippers gather to pray in a hotel parking lot across the street from the scene of the attack. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(07 of25)
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Worshippers gather to pray down the street from the Emanuel church. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Police close off a section of Calhoun Street near the church. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Charleston Emergency Management Director Mark Wilbert on Thursday holds a flier that was distributed to media with surveillance footage of a suspect wanted in connection with the shooting. (Photo: David Goldman) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Surreace Cox, of North Charleston, South Carolina, holds a sign during a prayer vigil down the street from the Emanuel AME Church early Thursday. (Photo: David Goldman) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Worshippers gather to pray in a hotel parking lot across the street from the church. (Photo: David Goldman) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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A police officer uses a flashlight while searching the area. (Photo: David Goldman) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Rev. Sandy Drayton sheds a tear during a prayer vigil held at Morris Brown AME Church for the victims of Wednesday's shooting at Emanuel AME Church on Thursday, June 18, 2015 in Charleston, S.C. (credit:Grace Beahm / The Post and Courier / AP)
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Parishioners listen during a memorial service at Morris Brown AME Church for the nine people killed Wednesday during a prayer meeting inside a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., Thursday, June 18, 2015. (AP Photo/David Goldman) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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A parishioner prays during a memorial service at Morris Brown AME Church for the people killed Wednesday during a prayer meeting inside a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., Thursday, June 18, 2015. Police arrested 21-year-old suspect Dylann Storm Roof Thursday in Shelby, N.C. without resistance. (AP Photo/David Goldman) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Natasha Wright speaks to her two daughters, Thursday, June 18, 2015 at a make-shift memorial near the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. Dylann Storm Roof, 21, was arrested Thursday in the slayings of several people, including the pastor, at a prayer meeting inside the historic black church in downtown Charleston. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, center right, joins hands with Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley, left, and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., right, at a memorial service at Morris Brown AME Church for the people killed Wednesday during a prayer meeting inside the historic black church in Charleston, S.C., Thursday, June 18, 2015. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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People sit on the steps of Morris Brown AME Church while services are held June 18, 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina. Police on Thursday arrested a 21-year-old white gunman suspected of killing nine people at a prayer meeting in one of the nation's oldest black churches in Charleston, an attack being probed as a hate crime. The shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in the southeastern US city was one of the worst attacks on a place of worship in the country in recent years, and comes at a time of lingering racial tensions. (credit:BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI via Getty Images)
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A South Carolina State Trooper walks past as people gather for a vigil while services are held at Morris Brown AME Church June 18, 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina. (credit:BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI via Getty Images)
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Charleston police Lt. S. Siprko removes flowers from the backseat of a patrol car, Thursday, June 18, 2015 to a makeshift memorial in front of the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. T (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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State Senator Vincent Sheheen (D-Kershaw) gets emtional as he sits next to the draped desk of state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, Thursday, June 18, 2015, at the Statehouse in Columbia, S.C. Pinckney was one of those killed, Wednesday night in a shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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A group of women pray together at a make-shift memorial on the sidewalk in front of the Emanuel AME Church, Thursday, June 18, 2015 in Charleston, S.C. Dylann Storm Roof, 21, was arrested Thursday in the slayings of several people, including the pastor at a prayer meeting inside the historic black church. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Tyler Francis, right, hugs Shondrey Dear after praying together, Thursday, June 18, 2015 at a make-shift memorial near the Emanuel AME Church following a shooting Wednesday night in Charleston, S.C. Shooting suspect Dylann Storm Roof, 21, was captured without resistance in North Carolina Thursday after an all-night manhunt, Charleston's police chief Greg Mullen said. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Charleston, S.C., shooting suspect Dylann Storm Roof is escorted from the Sheby Police Department in Shelby, N.C., Thursday, June 18, 2015. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Charleston, S.C., shooting suspect Dylann Storm Roof is escorted from the Sheby Police Department in Shelby, N.C., Thursday, June 18, 2015. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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