NRA Will Attend CNN Town Hall With Survivors Of Florida School Shooting

The logo of the National Rifle Association is seen at an outdoor sports trade show on February 10, 2017 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The Great American Outdoor Show, a nine day event celebrating hunting, fishing and ... The logo of the National Rifle Association is seen at an outdoor sports trade show on February 10, 2017 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The Great American Outdoor Show, a nine day event celebrating hunting, fishing and outdoor traditions, features over 1,000 exhibitors ranging from shooting manufacturers to outfitters to fishing boats and RVs, and archery to art. / AFP PHOTO / DOMINICK REUTER (Photo credit should read DOMINICK REUTER/AFP/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

The National Rifle Association will participate in a town hall discussion on gun laws and last week’s Florida school shooting, which will be hosted by CNN on Wednesday evening.

The NRA’s national spokeswoman Dana Loesch will represent the organization at the discussion with parents and students, CNN reported. Sens. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), as well as Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL), have also told CNN they will be in attendance. The discussion will be broadcast live at 9 p.m. EST Wednesday.

Loesch said she decided to attend because she’s “always been about more discussion, not less” and she hopes to be able to “offer some solutions as to what people can actually do to prevent these things from happening in the future.”

“I just hope that people are respectful and that it’s a civil discussion,” she told NRA TV. “We’re not going to get anywhere in this country by screaming at people and impugning their characters simply because they believe as they do. … I hope we can be respectful and have a civil debate without anyone screaming murderer at me.”

The town hall comes just one week after a 19-year-old former student allegedly shot and killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The massacre has incensed the students who survived the attack to advocate for tighter gun control laws at a state and national level.

While President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Rick Scott both turned down the invitation to attend CNN’s discussion, Trump on Tuesday directed the attorney general’s office to look into banning bump-stocks, a device that makes a semi-automatic weapon function like an automatic weapon. This accessory was used in the attack at a concert in Las Vegas last year, when a lone gunman killed 50-plus people.

The NRA has come under scrutiny in the wake of the most recent deadly school shooting, as have the politicians whom the gun owners’ organization supports, like Rubio.

Loesch has made headlines as a controversial figure in the past year when she started making aggressive advertisements for NRA TV, which appear to call for violence against journalists and liberals.

Loesch and the NRA did not immediately respond to TPM’s request for comment.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for jsfox jsfox says:

    My guess is that the NRA will go out of their way to discredit and demean the students

  2. Avatar for vtrc vtrc says:

    This seems really poorly thought out. The NRA script is so fixed anymore there’s almost nothing for them to add or say and it isn’t playing well anymore.

  3. This makes sense. After all, Hermann Göring’s input was solicited at Nuremberg when he had something to say about mass murders.

  4. The NRA is underestimating these kids and will hopefully pay for it.

  5. From what I’ve seen of these kids, she is going to be verbally and intellectually outgunned.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

103 more replies

Participants

Avatar for playitagainrowlf Avatar for austin_dave Avatar for pluckyinky Avatar for marby Avatar for mondfledermaus Avatar for sysprog Avatar for ncsteve Avatar for fargo116 Avatar for radicalnormal Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for squirreltown Avatar for bluinmaine Avatar for sniffit Avatar for mike_in_houston Avatar for thomasmatthew Avatar for raincntry Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for jonney_5 Avatar for gajake Avatar for established_1781 Avatar for menocchio Avatar for rickjones Avatar for katscherger Avatar for vtrc

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: