GOP governor: I would reject an NRA endorsement

Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan says he would reject an endorsement from the National Rifle Association (NRA) if it gave him one.

Hogan spoke to a group of students at Great Mill High School on Thursday, months after a 16-year-old girl was killed during a school shooting, The Washington Post reported. 

The remarks also come weeks after a gunman killed five people inside the office of the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, the state’s capital.

{mosads}“He told them he wasn’t expecting it and didn’t want it,” Hogan spokeswoman Amelia Chasse said of an endorsement. “He doesn’t think the NRA are big fans of his at the moment.”

Hogan, who is running for reelection in the largely blue state, has signed several gun control in recent months despite having received an NRA endorsement during his first gubernatorial campaign in 2014.

After the March school shooting, Hogan said “prayers are not enough” of a response and called for action.

He rejected President Trump’s call to arm teachers after the Parkland, Fla., school shooting and pushed for other school safety improvements.

Hogan signed a series of bills into law in April that addressed gun violence.

The bills included a ban on “bump stocks” which allow for guns to fire at a higher rate of speed. 

He also signed a so-called “red flag law,” which allow law enforcement officers to obtain a court order to confiscate guns from individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others.