National Rifle Association
By Rachel Sliwinski and Francesca Lingat
Who are they?
The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is an American organization that has historically promoted firearm ownership, marksmanship, safety, hunting, and self-defense in the United States, and has more recently taken up a major role as a lobbying organization, ostensibly to advocate for the protection of the Second Amendment (right to bear arms) of the United States Bill of Rights.
Why have they been in the news recently?
A week after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, the NRA announced that it wants armed security guards in every school nationwide. They made controversial statements by claiming violent video games and movies were the reason behind recent shootings instead of gun laws. The Vice President of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, said, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." which caused even more upset. Many believe that the NRA let down the country by not coming up with reasonable solutions and not cooperating.
Political Cartoon
This cartoon is commenting on the fact that the country is trying to stop people using guns inappropriately, and instead of positive and reasonable solutions to fixing this problem, the NRA is trying to fix it by giving people MORE guns. People see this as very ironic.
Video
Critics Slam NRA for Proposing Armed School Guards