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The biggest gun rights group in the nation didn't put out a statement on the shooting, which claimed the lives of 17 people. Its Twitter stayed dormant for five days. The group's Facebook page stayed quiet for four days, posting a lone missive on Monday, alerting followers to a billboard in Kentucky that read: "Kill The NRA."
But outside of that, there was zilch. It was a case study in the public relations strategy known as "riding out the storm."
But not everyone under the NRA umbrella stayed silent. In the hours after Parkland, NRA TV, the television channel run by the gun rights lobby, continued producing content. At first, its anchors struck a conciliatory tone, noting that they shared the objective of making schools a safe place for children. Then they began pushing the company line: that school resource officers needed to be tactically trained and armed to prevent such shootings from being more gruesome.
Then, it turned aggressive.
Over the past two days, NRA TV has gone after both law enforcement for bungling the shooting and media outlets for calling for more expansive gun laws. Host Dan Bongino accused the New York Daily News of being both "pure filth" and "not worthy of collecting dog excrement" - aka actual filth. Host Dana Loesch called for protesters to march "to the FBI offices" for its failure to act on the numerous reports it received that the shooter, Nikolas Cruz, was dangerous and potentially unstable. Grant Stinchfield, another NRA TV host, added his thoughts on the Fourth Estate on Monday, suggesting reporters were eager for another shooting to push a gun control agenda.
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