State Rep. Joe Carr accused the Rev. Al Sharpton of using “cheap race baiting” in a debate over his legislation that would prohibit federal agents from enforcing any new gun laws in Tennessee, according to the Murfreesboro Daily News Journal.
During an MSNBC interview with Carr last Friday, Sharpton, a controversial civil rights activist, showed the clip of Alabama Gov. George Wallace blocking the enrollment of two black students on the steps of the University of Alabama and said Carr was making the same argument for state “sovereignty” to stop the federal government from enforcing a potential ban on “military-style assault weapons.”
Carr called the tactic “reprehensible” on Monday and said during the TV interview, “Those are misapplications of what we’re talking about. You’re drawing parallels that don’t exist.”
Furthermore, Carr said, “As a father of a biracial little boy (Joe Jr.), I reject the notion of what you’re telling me.”
And, from Andy Sher: Sharpton kicked off the segment saying Republicans in at least six states, including Tennessee, “are resorting to an old argument to fight a new battle, crying states’ rights as they attack President Obama on gun control.”
“Now let me ask you,” he said to Carr, “do you really think your state bill will trump federal law?”
Carr said part of his point is “trying to illustrate here that the federal government systematically over the years has been on a full assault of the Second Amendment.”