Jay Leno cancels gun show gig, says he thought it was about hunting

NEWTOWN, Conn., Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Jay Leno has canceled an upcoming appearance at a Las Vegas gun show after discovering its organizers were anti-gun control lobbyists based near the site of the Sandy Hook elementary shooting.

Leno was scheduled to host the 2015 Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show, but upon learning it was backed by the National Shooting Sports Foundation -- a Newtown, Conn.-based pro-gun group, similar to the National Rifle Association -- Leno quickly backed out and contacted the parents of victims of the 2012 shooting that killed 26 people.

"When it came to his attention that this was actually a pro-gun lobby show, [Leno] immediately cancelled his appearance," Bruce Bobbins, a spokesman for the former Tonight Show host, told MSNBC. Leno was under the impression the event was an apolitical sportsman's show focused on hunting and game.

While Leno was apologetic about his decision to host the event, the NSSF claims that remorse is the result of political pressure and even calculated conspiracy.

"[Leno] unilaterally cancelled his promised appearance due to pressure from the anti-gun lobby, which included false statements about our industry and its commitment to genuine firearms safety, which we attempted to personally correct with him, but to no avail," the NSSF wrote on its blog.

"We are not deterred by their publicity seeking nor are we unfamiliar with the bullying political tactics of the gun control groups that seem to have as little respect for the First Amendment as they continually demonstrate with regard to the Second Amendment."

For his part, Leno's personal politics have always been somewhat ambiguous.

"I'm not conservative. I've never voted that way in my life," Leno once told LA Weekly. While seemingly a concrete statement, it came in defense of his appearance at former Republican Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2003 election victory party. And, despite his public participation in May 2014 protests against mistreatment of LGBT workers at a pair of Bevery Hills hotels, the twilight of Leno's Tonight Show tenure saw the comedian emerge as a conservative-media darling for his repeated criticisms of President Obama.

"You have to have an open mind," Leno told Lawrence O'Donnell in 2013 when asked about his closely guarded political leanings.

"You can't go in thinking, oh, this person's in this party, this person's in that party."