What Will the NRA Say About Newtown?
The National Rifle Association will soon break the public silence it's been sticking to since the Newtown massacre, Fox News' James Rosen reports. The gun lobby, which has been the subject of ceaseless criticism since the shooting, pulled down its Facebook page and quit tweeting. But the NRA is getting ready to "push back." What will its message be? Fox reports it will demand a fuller look at where gun violence comes from:
"If we're going to have a conversation, then let's have a comprehensive conversation," said one industry source. "If we're going to talk about the Second Amendment, then let's also talk about the First Amendment, and Hollywood, and the video games that teach young kids how to shoot heads."
This actually sounds a lot like what Joe Scarborough said on MSNBC Monday. The former congressman had an A-rating from the NRA, and called for taking on the gun lobby. But he also called for taking on the entertainment industry. "I say good luck to the gun lobbyist, good luck to the Hollywood lawyer who tries to blunt the righteous anger of millions of parents by hiding behind twisted readings of our Bill of Rights," Scarborough said. Fox's source seemed to hint at bringing back the argument from the late 1990s, after Columbine, that violent video games and music might cause teenagers to kill. This person pointed to the 1999 incident specifically:
"If you really want to stop incidents like this," the source continued, "passing one more law is not going to do a damn thing. Columbine happened when? In 1999. Smack in the middle of the original assault-weapons ban."
BuzzFeed noted that the NRA has followed a pattern of social media silence after shootings, but they don't last. (Well, except for its online TV show.) Apparently this one won't either.
