Tom Selleck reportedly resigned from the National Rifle Association’s board of directors.
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“Blue Bloods” star Tom Selleck has reportedly resigned from the National Rifle Association’s board of directors.
Selleck, 73, has been a member of the NRA since he was 8 years old, The Trace, a non-profit website covering gun violence in America, reported Tuesday. He also received the most votes in the board’s election in 2017. A spokeswoman said he resigned because of time commitments.
Selleck, an avid gun collector, has donated a few rifles and revolvers from his movies to the NRA’s National Firearms Museum.
Annette Wolf, the actor’s publicist, told The Trace that Selleck stepped down from the board “due to his work schedule,” but noted that he was never truly “active on the board.”
Selleck is still an NRA member, Wolf added.
Neither representatives for Selleck nor the NRA immediately responded to Fox News’ request for comment.
“He has nothing to do with policy,” Wolf told the outlet. “He’s never been active on the board or anything the NRA engages in. He’s almost always been a silent board member."
The former face of “Magnum P.I.” came under fire following comments he made on “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” in 1999 for his firearms advocacy. He went on the talk show to promote the film “The Love Letter,” but instead got into a debate with O’Donnell about guns in the wake of the Columbine massacre.
“But you can’t say that guns don’t bear a responsibility,” O’Donnell asked. “If the makers of the TEC-9 assault rifle… Why wouldn’t the NRA be against assault rifles? This is a gun that can shoot five bullets in a second. This is the gun that those boys brought into the school. Why the NRA wouldn’t say, as a matter of compromise, ‘We agree, assault weapons are not good.’”
“I’m not…I can’t speak for the NRA,” he replied.
“But you’re their spokesperson Tom, so you have to be responsible for what they say,” O’Donnell said.
“But I’m not a spokesperson. I’m not a spokesperson for the NRA,” Selleck said.
MSNBC star Lawrence O’Donnell also brought up Selleck’s role in the NRA in 2013 following the Sandy Hook shooting, saying he questioned Selleck’s “humanity.”
Kathleen Joyce is a breaking/trending news producer for FoxNews.com. You can follow her at @Kathleen_Joyce8 on Twitter.
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