Marion P. Hammer

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Marion P. Hammer was the first female President of the National Rifle Association^[1], an American gun-owners' rights organization.

She served from 1995 to 1998 and remains on the Board of Directors. Hammer has been the National Rifle Association`s lobbyist in Tallahassee for more than three decades. Credit her with the intense, three-year push for the controversial guns-to-work bill that the Republican Legislature and Gov. Charlie Crist made law this session.^[2] She was nominated by [at that time] Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist (R) for the state's Women's Hall of Fame, has been chosen as one of ten finalists from all the nominees, by the Florida Commission on the Status of Women. said Crist.

"Marion Hammer has long proven herself to be a worthy recipient of appointment to the Florida Women's Hall of Fame. "Throughout her career she has diligently and uncompromisingly pursued issues that are beneficial to women and their families, as well as her community, her state and her nation." -Charlie Crist

"I have had the great fortune to know Marion for a quarter of a century and to have worked closely with her, especially during her historic term as the first woman President in the National Rifle Association's long history. I have always sought and valued her counsel, not only because of her legislative and political acumen, but more importantly, because of her rock-solid integrity. I concur 100% with Florida Governor Jeb Bush (R), who stated of Marion: 'When she says it, you know she means it, and you know her word is golden.'" -[then] NRA Executive Vice-President Wayne LaPierre.

Equally remarkable have been Marion's pioneering efforts in the area of child and family safety. In 1987, as a member of NRA's Board of Directors, she was devoted to organizing a top-notch team of educators, clinical psychologists, law enforcement officials and urban housing safety officials to develop a firearms accident avoidance program for our children. The result was the award-winning Eddie Eagle GunSafe® Program, which has reached more than 18 million children in all 50 states, Canada and Puerto Rico. Eddie Eagle has touched more than 850,000 Florida youngsters with the assistance of 303 police officers and sheriff's departments and 579 schools throughout the state.^[3]