Desperate for relevance, NRA stands by its own extremists

WASHINGTON — As the National Rifle Association prepares to gather in Houston for its Annual Meeting, GIFFORDS, the national gun violence prevention organization founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, condemned the group’s continued extremism as it seeks to regain influence in Washington. After finding time to attend a UFC fight in Florida last weekend, President Trump is skipping the NRA Annual Meeting for a second straight year. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans invited two other extremists gun rights groups to appear as expert witnesses in today’s Homeland Security Committee hearing on the Second Amendment, not the NRA.

Despite claiming to have cleaned house after years of legal troubles, at the Houston meeting, the NRA is swearing in a group of extremists to its board of directors this week. Mark Robinson smeared Parkland shooting survivors as “spoiled little bastards,” defended slavery and confessed he wanted to buy slaves. Robert K. Brown’s magazine sold ads to neo-Nazis and contract killers, which led to multiple murders. And gun industry veteran and crime profiteer Charles Brown, of MKS Supply, sold more than 13,000 guns used in crimes between 1988 and 2000, per the ATF. 

“The NRA is flailing and the world has moved on without them. Its brand is too toxic for moderates and is too stale for the extreme voices that dominate today’s gun culture. President Trump is a no-show for the second year in a row while a Senate Republican hearing on the Second Amendment features its top two rivals, but no representatives from the NRA,” said GIFFORDS Executive Director Emma Brown. “On the brink of irrelevance, the NRA has chosen to double down on extremism and failed policies that made gun violence the number one killer of young people in this country. Republicans and Democrats alike are tired of worrying about gun crime every time their kids leave the house – that is why so many gun owners have found a home with GIFFORDS Gun Owners for Safety. It’s time to tune out the extremists and enact commonsense laws that stop dangerous people from accessing guns.”