The National Rifle Association

Public Enemy #1 - March 2018

Public Enemy #1 for the Swarm’s inaugural month of March goes out to the National Rifle Association. The gun-advocacy group found itself in the midst of a nationwide political controversy as the Parkland shooting brought the issue of gun control back to life.

In the weeks following the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School the NRA’s initial reactions to the tragedy were nothing short of appalling to the American Public. After proposed legislation was largely passed upon by Florida legislators, many Stoneman Douglas students and survivors started to point out the connection between their local representatives, and the NRA. Since the NRA acts as a large donor for many politicians, their very evaluating of gun control measures would be a stern conflict of interest.

As a response to the increased scrutiny with which the NRA was being examined with, the organization instead pointed blame towards the government and media outlets. The NRA also doubled down on their usual championing of guns stating that more armed officials are the appropriate combatant to school shootings.

The NRA’s largely negative public image in response to the Stoneman Douglas shooting is a result of their blatant disregard for the tragedy. While they did not inherently downplay the seriousness of the attack, all of their solutions are coated with their compromised judgement. The organization refused to acknowledge even the potential positives that gun control could have had on the situation. They did not even consider the possibility that a 17-year-old high school student should not have access to a military grade weapon. Their solution to mass shootings within the classroom was to increase the amount of firearms in school, a decision which would ultimately lead to more sales for gun manufacturers. In a time of crisis they criticized the media for allegedly profiting off of the tragedy and hypocritically turned around to do the same thing. The American people are smarter than that, and they will take action.

See what Twitter currently has to say about the NRA below.