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The National Rifle Association (NRA) hasn’t tweeted since the afternoon of February 14th, the day that 17 people were killed and 15 were injured in a mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida. And it’s kind of strange, because typically the NRA loves to tweet.




The gun rights organization, which has adopted a neo-fascist media style during the Trump era, uses Facebook and Twitter to advance its agenda of making sure that every American has weapons of war at their disposal. But whenever there’s a mass shooting, the NRA goes oddly quiet.

The NRA waited 40 hours and 59 minutes after the first reports about the Pulse Nightclub shooting before sending out a tweet from its main account. That mass shooting killed 49 people and injured 58. But the NRA didn’t tweet for 9 full days after the 2012 mass murder at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. That shooting left 12 people dead.


How long before the NRA starts tweeting again just like the Parkland shooting never happened? We’ll have to wait and see.

The last tweet from the NRA’s main account was at 1:23pm Eastern time on February 14, 2018 and promoted a fundraiser for police. Shortly after that, the main account retweeted its NRABlog account. But it’s been silent since the afternoon of the shooting.

The NRA’s most fascist account, NRATV, did send out a tweet on Saturday the 17th against “political arguments” but has also been relatively quiet since the Parkland shooting.


We’ll update this post as we learn more and will let you know when it’s safe to politicize this tragedy—something that allies of the NRA in Congress are constantly worried about.

Update, 9:08am: Still nothing from the NRA’s main Twitter account.

Update, 9:13am: The NRA still hasn’t tweeted.

Update, 9:25am: Still no tweets, but maybe the NRA social media person is just waking up. It is President’s Day, after all.


Update, 9:44am: The NRA main account still hasn’t tweeted but I did just notice that the NRA-TV account’s pinned tweet is from February 14th, the day of the shooting. It’s an ad for NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch’s new YouTube show. And it’s aggressive to say the least.


From the ad:

We’ve had enough of the lies, the sanctimony, the arrogance, the hatred, the pettiness, the fake news… we are done with your agenda to undermine voters’ will and individual liberty in America. So to every lying member of the media, to every Hollywood phony, to the role model athletes who use their free speech to alter and undermine what our flag represents, to the politicians who would rather watch America burn than lose one ounce of their own personal power, to the late-night hosts who think their opinions are the only opinions that matter… to the Joy-Ann Reids, the Morning Joes, the Mikas… To those who stain honest reporting with partisanship… To those who bring bias and propaganda to CNN, the Washington Post and the New York Times. Listen up! Your Time is running out… The clock starts now.


Yikes. They’re pissed at late night hosts now too? Again, there’s really no other word for this style of intimidation but neo-fascism.

Update, 10:14am: Still nothing.

Update, 10:28am: Zilch.

Update, 11:07am: No tweets from the main NRA Twitter account yet, but the hashtag #NRABloodMoney does seem to be gaining traction.


Update, 11:38am: Still no tweets from the NRA.

Update, 12:10pm: The NRA hasn’t tweeted yet. I’d even take some empty platitudes at this point. But we’ve got nothing so far.


Update, 12:27pm: Still nothing.

Update, 1:09pm: Zero.

Update, 1:23pm: It’s officially been five days since the NRA last tweeted from its main account. Still nothing.


Update, 1:37pm: No tweet from the NRA yet, but my inbox has been interesting today, to say the least.

Here’s a tiny sample of the messages I’ve received today from very stable geniuses, no doubt:

Welllllllll, now.... I knew this school shooting would play right into you leftwing nut jobs narritive. You just couldn’t wait to blame republicans, gun owners, NRA, 2nd amendment, and all who think this shooting was the guns fault, because facts are just too hard for you little lame ass idiots to deal with! Your logic says pencils make us misspell words, too! [...] Actually this is a societal problem... the break down of family, no morals, no faith, political correctness run amuck, nasty ass rappers, and the fucking so called progressives of the world own this shit too! Be that as it may, I and millions like me will continue to arm up, speak up and fight the leftist scurge upon this country! Game on..... WE WILL WIN!!!


I hate when I get destroyed by logic and facts.

Update, 2:25pm: Still quiet. Too quiet.

Update, 3:38pm: Still no tweets, but they’d have to keep this up for another four days if they want to be as quiet as they were after the 2012 massacre in Aurora, Colorado.


Update 4:01pm: Nothing yet.

Update, 4:11pm: Still nothing from the NRA’s main Twitter account, but the organization’s online propaganda channel, NRA TV, just sent out a tweet... calling Joe Scarborough a liar.


So, um, no thoughts and prayers then?

Update, 5:25pm: The NRA account is still quiet, but NRA TV is really going to town, “hoping” that people march to the FBI offices. Presumably for not doing enough to stop the mass murderer at Parkland? It’s not exactly clear.


But we now know that the killer, Nikolas Cruz, obtained his 10 or so weapons legally. So what was the FBI supposed to do? Arrest Cruz for being creepy? I can’t imagine that the NRA would just sit back and be chill with the idea that creepy people shouldn’t have access to guns. In fact, they seem pretty content with everyone having guns. That’s kind of their thing.


Update, 6:12pm: Still nothing from @NRA.

Update, Feb 20th, 6:11am: It’s morning. And still nothing.

Update, Feb 20th, 7:25am: The main NRA account still hasn’t tweeted since 17 people were massacred at a high school in Parkland, Florida.


Update, Feb 20th, 8:21am: Nada.

Update, Feb 20th, 10:10am: Still nothing.

Update, Feb 20th, 2:45pm: No tweets from the NRA’s main Twitter account yet. As the Washington Post’s Philip Bump points out, this is the longest that the account has gone silent since early 2015.


Update, Feb 20th, 2:45pm: I hit publish just seconds too soon. The NRA finally broke its silence and tweeted a story about a Good Samaritan who shot someone else who had a gun. Yay?


They were silent for just over 6 days. But no thoughts and prayers for the 17 people murdered in Parkland, Florida it looks like.