Ken Blackwell, a board member of the NRA, has blamed last week's shooting spree at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) on laws allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry.

After serving as Ohio state treasurer and secretary of state, Blackwell, a Republican, ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor of Ohio, becoming the state's first African-America major-party candidate to run for the office.

During an appearance on FRC's Washington Watch radio program, Blackwell blamed the killings on “the crumbling of the moral foundation of the country” and “the attack on natural marriage and the family.”

“When these fundamental institutions are attacked and destroyed and weakened and abandoned, you get what we are now seeing,” Blackwell told FRC President Tony Perkins. “And that is a flood of disturbed people in our society that are causing great pain.”

FRC claims Blackwell as an independent contractor. He is listed by the group as a “senior fellow for family empowerment.”