ROCKVILLE, Md. –  The NRA this week reiterated its stance against so-called ‘smart guns’ which incorporate technology that attempts to allow the gun to be fired only by its rightful owner, claiming the new technology is inherently discriminatory against a large segment of their members. “The NRA recognizes that the ‘smart guns’ issue clearly has the potential to mesh with the anti-gunner’s agenda,” said the organization in a statement on their website, “opening the door to a ban on all guns that do not possess the government-required technology, and discriminating against individuals who are not particularly intelligent- one of the NRA’s larger target demographics.”

The latest announcement came in response to reports that Andy Raymond, a gun store owner in Rockland, Maryland, reversed his plan to sell the nation’s first commercially-available smart gun after gun rights activists sent him multiple threats against both his life and the life of his dog. “That’s the antithesis of everything that we pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment people should be,” said Raymond in a YouTube video. “You are not supposed to say a gun should be prohibited. Then you are being no different than the anti-gun people who say an AR-15 should be prohibited.”

NRA legislative director Chris Cox applauded the anonymous gun-owners who threatened Raymond’s life. “These patriots were right to express their disapproval of the store’s plans to stock a new product. There is a fine line between forcing gun owners to have the option to purchase a handgun that cannot be accidentally found and used by a six year-old child and outlawing all guns in America,” he said. “A very fine line.”

Cox also questioned the practicality of smart gun technology. “What if you’re at your buddy’s house and a rapist comes in? You grab your buddy’s gun but it doesn’t fire and you get raped? How is that smart?”

NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre criticized gun makers- such as German company Armatix, whose Armatix iP1 was the weapon Raymond backed down from selling- for researching smart gun technology. “They’re shooting themselves in the foot with this smart gun nonsense,” he said. “Don’t they realize it alienates easily half their customers? Not all gun owners are high school graduates!”

For his part, gun dealer Raymond said he had seen the error of his ways. “Maybe I got mislead about this,” he wrote on his store’s Facebook page. “It’s still my responsibility. I tried to stand on the ideal that we could get some fence sitters and anti gunners into our fold [with the smart guns]. Maybe I’m either too young or too old to realize that’s not sturdy enough.

“Getting one anti gunner to buy a gun isn’t worth it if you guys are gonna kill my dog,” he added.