The NRA is having trouble keeping its head down in the wake of the recent shooting. NRA shifts to crisis mode

The National Rifle Association is coming out of lock down — a dramatic shift into crisis PR mode in the wake of the tragedy in Newtown that shows no sign of fading from the headlines soon.

The powerful lobby broke its silence Tuesday night, extending condolences to victims and their loved ones, announcing an unusual national press briefing to be held Friday and promising to “offer meaningful contributions to make sure this never happens again.”


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The lay-low strategy has worked through many recent shootings that caught the nation’s attention — from Tucson, to Virginia Tech to Aurora — without a single bill even threatening to pass.

But even the NRA is having trouble keeping its head down in a week when national news channels are airing footage from the funerals of 20 school children killed a week before Christmas in an American town decorated for the holiday season.

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Washington’s not letting go, either. President Barack Obama said Wednesday he wants “concrete” reforms in front of Congress by January. Pro-gun Democrats have joined their more liberal counterparts in calls for new restrictions on firearms.

Outside the Beltway, social media campaigns are pressuring the NRA and its allies to accept change.

Long-time observers and former NRA insiders say the group’s abrupt shift in communications strategy shows something unusual is happening inside the powerful group: it’s feeling heat.

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“They must have felt the pressure,” said Richard Feldman, former NRA lobbyist and president of the Independent Firearm Owners Association. “Whether they want it to be about guns, or not, [the discussion] is going to include guns. If it is going to happen, join them. Don’t stand on the outside. Stand on the inside and be a part of the discussion.”

The NRA has offered no details on the plan it will lay out at the press event Friday. But expectations are high on K Street that the announcement will be significant, given the gun lobby’s tradition of riding out tragedies without much more than a statement on its website.

The move is unprecedented in recent history. After the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabby Giffords, they held no public event. The same was true this fall after dozens were shot in a movie theater in Aurora, Colo. Even after the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, it was weeks before the group quietly began working with Rep. John Dingell on a bill to make it more difficult for the mentally ill to buy guns — a bill that ultimately languished.

Crisis communications veteran Rich Masters of Qorvis Communications said it makes sense for the NRA to go on offense with the public before the gun lobby takes the brunt of public outrage.

The usual arguments aren’t good enough, he said. Whether it’s to say we ought to arm more people or there’s nothing that could have been done to stop the violence.

“All of that goes out the window when the victims are six-year-olds. No one in their right mind thinks they should have been packing heat,” Masters said. “I think they are going to have to realize there has been a fundamental paradigm shift in the way people view this.”

The NRA did not respond to a request for comment.

The new approach comes as its unlikely the issue will fade in the near-term. Across the country people are looking for answers and the gun control lobby is looking to capitalize on the shooting as a way to push reintroducing the assault rifle ban.

President Barack Obama also announced an interagency task force Wednesay to be led by Vice President Joe Biden and ardent gun control advocate Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has vowed to reintroduce the assault rifle ban. And more lawmakers, long aligned with the NRA, including Democratic Rep. Tim Walz (Minn.), among others are coming forward with a new openness to gun restrictions.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) a long-time gun control advocate, is also introducing two pieces of legislation aimed at school safety.

The California Democrat told reporters Wednesday that she believes there could be a “sea change” among her colleagues who have not been vocal on the issue in the past.

New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, whose life has personally been touched by gun violence, echoed Boxer in a separate Capitol Hill press conference.

“The gun lobby doesn’t work for us, they work for the gun manufacturers,” McCarthy said. McCarthy’s husband was one of six people killed in 1993 when a gunman shot passengers on a Long Island Railroad train.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also announced the formation of a new gun control task force that Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), former co-chair of the Congressional Sportsman Caucus, will lead.

The NRA is facing pressure from outside the Beltway, as well. Thousands of supporters have signed on to a social media campaign pushing the Wyndham Hotels from dropping its affiliation with the group.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence President Dan Gross said they will continue to press the issue. In addition to bringing 40 victims of gun violence to Capitol Hill and the White House on Tuesday, the group is launching a public service announcement campaign that will feature celebrities, victims of gun violence and others to keep the pressure on.

“The only way we are going to overcome the unfortunate partisan politics that do exist around this issue is to bring the disconnect of what Americans want and elected officials are doing about it to light,” Gross said. “We believe that can happen quickly, but we don’t expect it to happen overnight.”

Gross said that the Brady Campaign regularly interacts with NRA members, who support their goals.

“The leadership of the NRA seems to have different goals,” Gross said.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misspelled Dan Gross’s name.

CORRECTION: Corrected by: Bridget Mulcahy @ 12/19/2012 09:58 PM CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misspelled Dan Gross’s name.