NC sheriff hopeful apologizes for joke about taking guns away from people's 'cold, dead hands'

A Democratic candidate for sheriff in North Carolina apologized Sunday for a joke about taking guns away from people’s “cold, bare hands.”

R. Daryl Fisher, who is seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination in the upcoming primary election for Buncombe County sheriff, has come under criticism following his remarks at a monthly Moms Demand Action meeting for gun control earlier this month.

During his short speech, where he expressed support for banning high-capacity magazines and “any weapon that’s designed for use by the military,” he joked about taking away guns once people are dead.

“Don’t believe the scare tactics, because you’ve heard people say, ‘You'll have to pry my gun from my cold, dead hands,’” Fisher is heard saying in a video posted by his campaign at the 3:04 minute mark. “OK … Whenever you pass away, we'll come get it,” he quipped.

The remark prompted laughter and applause from the audience, but he added that he was “joking just a little bit there.”

The sheriff hopeful told North Carolina’s The News & Observer on Monday that “a one-sentence clip from that meeting has been taken out of context and circulated on social media with a false interpretation of what I actually said.”

Fisher still issued an apology about the joke, saying it was a “mistake” he should not have made and affirmed his support for the Second Amendment, although he favors some gun-control measures.

“There is one statement that many up to now have taken offense to … I admit the joke was a mistake and I should not have joked,” Fisher wrote on his Facebook page, noting that the government “cannot take away any guns or any items that were legally sold before any new laws take effect.”

“Responsible gun owners have nothing to worry about. We have to do something different because what has been done is not working,” he added.