Where is the NRA?
Since Friday’s massacre of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, the National Rifle Association of America has been utterly silent. The most powerful lobbying group against the regulation of firearms in the United States often declines to comment immediately after high-profile shootings, claiming it is waiting for all the facts to come in. But this time appears to be different. This time, they can’t take the heat.
The NRA, which frequently communicates through social media, deactivated its Facebook page on Friday, one day after it bragged about reaching 1.7 million “likes.”
Did you hear? Our #facebook page reached 1.7 million “likes” today! Thanks for being a friend! #NRA twitter.com/NRA/status/279…
— NRA (@NRA) December 13, 2012
The Facebook page for the NRA’s official blog does still exist, but it hasn’t been updated since the shooting.
The NRA’s Twitter account, which had more than 63,000 followers as of Monday afternoon, has been silent since Friday.
Its last original tweet that morning, just before the Sandy Hook shooting, promoted the fourth day of “10 Days of NRA Giveaways” contest..
10 Days of NRA Giveaways – Enter today for a chance to win an auto emergency tool! tinyurl.com/8ufn35h twitter.com/NRA/status/279…
— NRA (@NRA) December 14, 2012
Apparently, the contest has been suspended, as there is no sign of day five, six or seven.
The NRA also canceled a “Tweet & Greet” with country musician Colt Ford on Twitter Friday afternoon but didn’t explain why. The NRA web site is still up and running, but there’s been no news updates since Friday. The NRA also declined invitations to appear on a number of Sunday news talk shows. But the NRA’s critics are showing no such hesitation to speak out. On Monday, a group of 75 gun-control activists marched on the NRA’s headquarters in Washington, denouncing the organization with chants of “Shame on the NRA!” And New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg might have said it best during Sunday’s appearance on NBC’s “Meet The Press”: “The NRA’s power is so vastly overrated. The public, when you do the polls, they want to stop this carnage. And if 20 kids isn’t enough to convince them, I don’t know what would be.”
Steve Frank Recommended
