Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, is asking NASCAR to drop the NRA’s sponsorship of the April 13 Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway, according to politico.
“By giving the NRA sponsorship of a major NASCAR race, NASCAR has crossed a line — you have decided to put yourself in the middle of a political debate, and you have taken a side that stands in opposition to the wishes of so many Newtown families who support common sense gun reform,” Murphy wrote in a letter to NASCAR CEO Brian France, according to the website. “Whether or not this was your intention, your fans will infer from this sponsorship that NASCAR and the NRA are allies in the current legislative debate over gun violence. By announcing this new partnership at the very height of Congress’s deliberations over gun reform, NASCAR has inserted itself into a political debate that has nothing to with the business of NASCAR.”Before moving to the Senate, Murphy was a congressman whose district included Newtown, Conn., where 20 children and six staff members were killed at an elementary school shooting Dec. 14.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
