Only three months have passed since the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, but that hasn't stopped the National Rifle Association from flooding the still shellshocked city of Newtown, Conn. with "insensitive" anti gun control robocalls, outraging many in the small community. Now, Connecticut's Senators are denouncing the organization for the calls, which it says proves the NRA has "stooped to a new low."
For its part, the NRA has loudly signaled it will remain in fierce opposition to any attempts to impose even the slightest new gun control restriction, and will attempt stymie any move to pass stricter gun control laws. On the NRA's website a statement argues Congress should spend less time "curtailing the Constitution" and more time "prosecuting criminals or fixing our broken mental health system." With Connecticut's General Assembly, like many states, and Congress, considering stricter gun control measures, the NRA began sending post cards and making automated calls in March urging people to phone their state representatives to fight gun control laws and support the freedom of gun owners.
After a local gun control group, Newtown Action Alliance, posted a Facebook message recently asking residents to report if they had received the calls, numerous concerned parents voiced their disapproval calling the practice "ridiculous" and "offensive." So many families in the small community were livid after receiving the robocalls, both of Connecticut's Democratic U.S. Senators, Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, released a letter to NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, asking him to have some compassion and cease the phone calls at once.
Dear Mr. LaPierre:
We write to you today on behalf of our constituents in Newtown, Connecticut who are outraged by your inappropriate automated phone calls pushing the National Rifle Association's extreme agenda being received by members of the Newtown community. With these robocalls, the NRA has stooped to a new low in the debate over how to best protect our kids and our communities. We call on you to immediately stop calling the families and friends of the victims in Newtown.
Like all Americans, we were horrified by the shooting on December 14th at Sandy Hook Elementary School were with the parents that day and the days that followed and can confidently tell you that the parents of the victims, and the community as a whole, are still struggling to comprehend the horror of that day. Your robocalls pushing our constituents to contact their members of Congress to urge opposition to common sense gun safety legislation are incredibly insensitive.
In a community that's still very much in crisis, to be making these calls opens a wound that these families are still trying hard to heal. Put yourself in the shoes of a victim's family member who gets a call at dinnertime asking them to support more assault weapons in our schools and on our streets.
Unfortunately, this latest act is just another example in a long line of offensive steps your organization has taken in the wake of this tragic shooting. Your press conference one week after the tragedy articulated your surreal vision that the only way to solve the epidemic of gun violence in America is through the use of more guns. One month later you released "NRA: Practice Range," an Apple app that allows individuals to shoot targets in a variety of settings and with a number of different weapons, including handguns, an AK-47 and an M-16. More recently, one of the NRA's Wisconsin lobbyists remarked that your extreme agenda may be delayed by the so-called "Connecticut effect."
Robocalling members of the Newtown community to promote your agenda less than 100 days after the horrific shooting is absolutely beyond the pale. Again, we call on you to show some basic decency and cease and desist these calls.
According to newly released warrants that include reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the morning of Dec. 14, 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot his mother Nancy in the head as she lay in bed, packed four legally-purchased firearms and drove a black Honda Civic to the Connecticut K-4 elementary school. Lanza opened fire in two classrooms around 9:30 a.m., fatally shooting 20 children and six adults with a Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle, showering the rooms with 154-bullets in less than five minutes before taking his own life with a Glock 10 mm handgun. Police revealed the Bushmaster had a 30-round capacity magazine; 14 rounds were left in the magazine, with one bullet still in the chamber.
Authorities said Lanza was found dressed up in military clothing, including a bulletproof vest. He still had another three, 30-round magazines left for the Bushmaster, as well as another loaded handgun on him. Police also found a fully-loaded 12-gauge shotgun in the car's glove compartment, along with 70 rounds of Winchester 12-gauge shotgun rounds.
Statistics are split across the board concerning guns and self-defense. No one study has provided definitive proof for either side of the gun control argument. A recent study conducted by The Harvard Injury Control Research Center, who analyzed gun and homicide data and literature, said that available evidence indicated that more guns equals more murders, a finding it said was supported across states, and countries.
Since 1982, there have been "at least 61 mass murders carried out with firearms across the country" in 30 states, according to Mother Jones; of those, 15 occurred in 2012 alone, according to The Huffington Post.
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
