| Advertisement |
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr has apologized for a quip he made last weekend about putting a bullseye target on Hillary Clinton's face on a recent magazine cover. During a private speech to supporters, Burr spoke of visiting a gun shop recently and seeing a rifle magazine with a photo of Clinton on the cover.
Advertisement
"I was a little bit shocked at that it didn't have a bull's-eye on it," Burr said, which was captured on a recording device and published by CNN.
Burr's remark couldn't have come at a worse time. The two-term senator is locked in a close race with Democrat Deborah Ross for his seat on Capitol Hill, which will be decided Nov. 8.
It should be no surprise, then, that he was quick to apologize for the ill-timed joke.
"The comment I made was inappropriate, and I apologize for it," he said.
Some gun-control advocates and Democrats have called for Burr to drop out of the race, but it's unlikely he will do so.
"That a sitting U.S. Senator, much less the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, would effectively endorse the assassination of a presidential candidate should make every American sick to their stomach," Dan Gross, president of the Brady campaign to End Gun Violence, said in a statement. "He has spent his entire career climbing the political ladder and fighting to make sure terrorists, domestic abusers, and felons can buy guns. Now, he's effectively encouraging people to use those guns to commit murder."
"An apology from Senator Burr is not enough. He should immediately resign from office, because what he said was beyond irresponsible."
To date, most polls have Burr ahead of Ross by between 1 and 4 percentage points.
