NRA taunts gun control advocates after Kim Kardashian robbery

Dylan Stableford
·Senior Writer

The National Rifle Association was quick to weigh in on the news that reality television star Kim Kardashian was the victim of an armed robbery in Paris — responding with a sarcastic message on Twitter.

“Wait, criminals held @KimKardashian at gunpoint in Paris?” the NRA tweeted Monday afternoon. “How is that possible? Does anyone know if they passed a background check first?”

Paris police say Kardashian was robbed in her Paris residence on Sunday by masked men who tied her up in the bathroom, put a gun to her head and fled with nearly $10 million worth of jewelry. The assailants were dressed as police officers, Reuters reported, and gained access to Kardashian’s room by forcing a concierge to let them in.

A publicist for the 35-year-old reality television star said Kardashian was “badly shaken but physically unharmed.”

Related: Could Kim’s social media presence have played a role in robbery?

The NRA used the armed robbery to highlight how France’s gun laws did not stop it from happening. As the Washington Post noted following the Charlie Hebdo shootings, “there is no right to bear arms for the French, and to own a gun, you need a hunting or sporting license which needs to be repeatedly renewed and requires a psychological evaluation.” In 2012, the French government estimated there were at least 7.5 million guns in legal circulation, and millions more illegally held.

Everytown for Gun Safety, the advocacy group headed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, responded to the NRA.

“Having fun, @NRA?” the organization tweeted, publishing a chart that showed the gun murder rates for countries around the world. “You are 18 times more likely to be murdered with a gun in the U.S. than in France.”

“Wait, are you saying criminals don’t follow current laws?” the NRA replied. “That can’t be true.”

The gun control lobby spent part of the afternoon responding to critics of its opportunistic Kardashian tweets.

Kardashian herself has spoken out in favor of gun law reform.

“The fact that anyone can so easily access guns is so scary,” she tweeted in June after the Senate failed to enact a series of gun control measures following the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. “After all of the devastating loss the Senate should have not failed us!!!”