Democratic Connecticut Gov. Dan Mallow on Sunday lashed out at National Rifle Association (NRA) CEO Wayne LaPierre and other gun control opponents as “clowns at the circus” who were just trying to sell more guns.

After Connecticut responded to the December mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School by enacting some of the toughest gun laws in the nation last week, LaPierre had appeared on Fox News to say that the new measures make “law books thicker for the law-abiding people.”

ADVERTISEMENT

“From the very start, my thought has been about how little this had to do with keeping kids safe and how much it has to do with this decades-long agenda against firearms that some in the political class and the media have had,” the NRA chief opined.

On Sunday, CNN host Candy Crowley asked Malloy if LaPierre had been correct that the Connecticut laws had made it harder for law-abiding citizens to arm themselves.

“Wayne reminds me of the clowns at the circus,” Mallow quipped. “They get the most attention and that’s what he’s paid to do. But the reality is, is that the gun that was used to kill 26 people on Dec. 14 was legally purchased in these state of Connecticut, even though we had an assault weapons ban. But there were loopholes in it that you could drive a truck through.”

“I mean, this guy is so out of whack, it’s unbelievable. Ninety-two percent of the American people want universal background checks,” the governor added. “Candy, I don’t want to tell you your business, but bring them back to reality.”

“What this is about is the ability of the gun industry to sell as many guns to as many people as possible, even if they’re deranged, even if they’re mentally ill, even if they have a criminal background. They don’t care, they want to sell guns.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Watch this video from CNN’s State of the Union, broadcast April 7, 2013.