Senators To NRA: Stop Berating Newtown Victims’ Families

National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre speaks during a press conference on Dec. 21, 2012 in Washington, DC..
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Connecticut’s two senators wrote a letter on Monday to the National Rifle Association demanding that the group “immediately stop” robo-calling families and friends of the Newtown, Conn., elementary school shooting victims to promote its agenda.

“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,” wrote Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) to NRA chief Wayne LaPierre. “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.”

The senators said their constituents were upset about getting automated calls from the NRA supporting the right to carry assault weapons and urging opposition to gun control measures.

Excoriating the NRA’s actions as “inappropriate,” “incredibly insensitive,” and “absolutely beyond the pale,” Blumenthal and Murphy called it “just another example in a long line of offensive steps your organization has taken in the wake of this tragic shooting.”

“With these robocalls, the NRA has stooped to a new low in the debate over how to best protect our kids and our communities,” they wrote. “Again, we call on you to show some basic decency and cease and desist these calls.”

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