Executive Vice President of the National Rifle Association Wayne LaPierre speaks on March 3 at CPAC. | Getty NRA offers tepid comment on police shooting of Minnesota man

On Friday, the National Rifle Association broke its silence, at least tentatively, on Philando Castile, a black man killed by police in Minnesota on Wednesday after announcing that he was legally carrying a gun.

“The reports from Minnesota are troubling and must be thoroughly investigated,” the influential gun rights group said in a statement Friday afternoon. “In the meantime, it is important for the NRA not to comment while the investigation is ongoing.”


The NRA faced accusations of racism for not officially decrying the shooting of Castile by a police officer during a traffic stop near St. Paul on Wednesday. According to Castile’s girlfriend, who posted a Web video immediately after he was shot, Castile had informed the officer that he was carrying a legal firearm as he reached for his wallet. An officer shot Castile four times.

“The NRA proudly supports the right of law-abiding Americans to carry firearms for defense of themselves and others regardless of race, religion or sexual orientation,” the group’s statement said Friday.

The Castile shooting, which came on the heels of another fatal officer-involved shooting of an unarmed black man in Louisiana, has reignited outcry and protests around the country — including the peaceful demonstration on Thursday in Dallas where a sniper killed five police officers.

But the Minnesota incident — which appears to have pitted a black gun owner against a police officer — has proved especially thorny for the NRA, which has sought to position itself as an unequivocal ally of cops and a counterpoint to the Black Lives Matter movement as the nation debates policing procedures.

That commitment was on display as the NRA weighed in early Friday afternoon to Thursday night’s attack on officers in Dallas with a straightforward message.

“On behalf of the more than five million members of the National Rifle Association, and especially on behalf of our members from the law enforcement community, I want to express the deep anguish all of us feel for the heroic Dallas law enforcement officers who were killed and wounded, as well as to those who so bravely ran toward danger to defend the city and the people of Dallas,” NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre said in a statement.

While the NRA as a group waited until Friday afternoon to weigh in on Castile’s death, at least one NRA representative did discuss the controversy on Thursday.

“What we know does not look good. Our right to keep and bear arms is not based on the color of our skin,” said Cam Edwards, host of the NRA’s Cam&Co. podcast.

Friday’s official NRA statement won’t be its last word on Castile, the group promised. “Rest assured, the NRA will have more to say once all the facts are known,” the statement concluded.

