'Gun Appreciation Day' Chair Says The Event Honors Martin Luther King's Memory

Larry Ward, chairman of Gun Appreciation Day, appeared on CNN Friday and argued that slavery might not have happened if black people had been armed with guns.

Ward's group planned the day for January 19, the weekend of President Obama's second inauguration, and several people have criticized their decision to hold the gun protest event just two days before Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Here is Ward's response:

"I think Martin Luther King would agree with me if he were alive today that if African-Americans had been given the right to keep and bear arms from day one of our country's founding, perhaps slavery would not have been a chapter in our nation's history."

Maria Roach of United for Change USA fired back, calling Ward's MLK argument "theater" in the gun debate.

Think Progress points out that there were many armed uprisings by slaves. The most famous one was Nat Turner's rebellion, which resulted in 60 white deaths and 100 black deaths.

And watch the video, courtesy of TPM:

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