Rosie: I'm no hypocrite

Rosie O'Donnell

An angry Rosie O'Donnell blamed the media and gun industry supporters
for releasing information that her bodyguard had applied for a concealed
weapons permit at the Greenwich, Conn., police department so he could
better protect her children.

Daytime

TV talk host O'Donnell -- an outspoken gun control advocate -- yesterday denied charges during an

appearance on NBC's Today Show that she was a hypocrite for preferring that bodyguards for herself and her children be armed.

She blamed the Greenwich police for covertly releasing the information to the press in order to paint her as a charlatan. She also said she was upset that reporters "informed the world" that her security personnel were unarmed, suggesting the revelation raised the risks to her family.

"[My bodyguard] has the right as a person who's residing in Connecticut a lot of the time due to his work with me to request to carry a gun. ... He's an individual and he works for a security firm," O'Donnell told Today host Katie Couric.

O'Donnell also suggested that gun rights organizations like the

National Rifle Association were partly responsible for spreading the word about the gun permit application, suggesting it was a politically motivated action and, in part, an attempt to find out whether or not her bodyguard was carrying an unlicensed firearm.

"I hate to disappoint the gun lobby, but it would have been a big feather in their cap had they found an unlicensed, unregistered gun on the bodyguard of one of America's most vocal gun-control advocates," she told Couric.

She also avoided a direct question from Couric as to whether her bodyguard would now have to carry a gun because of all the publicity.

"I think that my family's security will be discussed with the people who are hired to ensure that they are in fact safe, and we'll have to make a decision as a family based on that," she said.

The daytime talk host for Warner Brothers television said she has armed guards that patrol outside her home, but does not allow armed guards inside her house. She added that she doesn't own a gun or allow any guns inside, citing government studies that allegedly show an increase in gun accidents when firearms are kept inside the home.

O'Donnell also said during the Today show that she has

no problem
with guns and gun owners, provided the guns are properly stored and gun owners themselves are licensed. In fact, she advocates gun owners be licensed "like [automobile] drivers are licensed."

She said she isn't trying to take guns away from law-abiding people, but suggested the courts may someday do that.

"The Second Amendment has been interpreted by the Supreme Court to be regarding a well-regulated militia -- that the Second Amendment refers to a well-regulated militia -- the Supreme Court has continually upheld this. And it never, ever was interpreted that the Second Amendment meant individual's right to bear arms," she said Thursday.

In reality, the overwhelming weight of scholarly opinion, as well as virtually all the pronouncements of the actual writers of the Constitution, support the opposite view -- that the

Second
Amendment, like the rest of the Bill of Rights, confirms the individual rights of American citizens. The Second Amendment was ratified in 1791.

Meanwhile, in the current issue of

National Review, O'Donnell said her impetus for advocating strict gun control is a passion for children, and she said groups like the NRA don't care for all kids.

"The only life that is important to them is white, Republican life," she told the magazine.

O'Donnell has said because of her vocal support of gun control, she and her family have been threatened -- and that security experts advised her to hire a bodyguard for her three kids.

Rosie's armed bodyguard