Just a few days after gunmen entered Columbine High School in 1999 and murdered 13 students and adults, the National Rifle Association found itself in a situation darkly similar to what we’re seeing play out this week.
At the time, the gun group had plans to hold their annual national gathering just a few days after the school shooting that rocked a generation of Americans. And it was set to take place a few miles away from the scene of the massacre, in Denver.
As is the case today, NRA leaders ultimately opted to carry on with the planned convention, concerned that canceling it would rob officials of the opportunity to own the organization’s response to the tragedy, which was the deadliest school shooting during that decade in America.
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And 10 days later: A mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado.
In the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglass massacre in 2018, the city of Boulder passed landmark legislation banning the possession of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines within the municipality. The city law was challenged with aggressive legal action from gun-rights activists, including the Colorado State Shooting Association and the local chapter of the National Rifle Association.
