NPR has received a 2 1/2 hour recording of NRA officials discussing how they would respond to Columbine

[Morrison71]

Soon after the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, senior leaders of the National Rifle Association huddled on a conference call to consider canceling their annual convention, scheduled just days later and a few miles away.

Thirteen people lay dead at a high school in Colorado. More than 20 were injured. Images of students running from the school were looped on TV. The NRA strategists on the call sounded shaken and panicked as they pondered their next step into what would become an era of routine and horrific mass school shootings.

And in those private moments, the NRA considered a strikingly more sympathetic posture toward mass shootings than the uncompromising stance it has taken publicly in the decades since, even considering a $1 million fund to care for the victims.

NPR has obtained more than 2 1/2 hours of recordings of those private meetings after the Columbine shooting, which offer unique insight into the NRA's deliberations in the wake of this crisis — and how it has struggled to develop what has become its standard response to school shootings ever since.
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In addition to mapping out their national strategy, NRA leaders can also be heard describing the organization's more activist members in surprisingly harsh terms, deriding them as "hillbillies" and "fruitcakes" who might go off script after Columbine and embarrass them.

And they dismiss conservative politicians and gun industry representatives as largely inconsequential players, saying they will do whatever the NRA proposes. Members of Congress, one participant says, have asked the NRA to "secretly provide them with talking points."
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The strategists ultimately decided that canceling their convention would deny them a platform to respond to criticism and also that a cancellation would be an opportunity for attacks by the national media.

Hammer, a longtime NRA lobbyist who once served as its president, weighs in with an unyielding view. She tells LaPierre that even if they don't lose money, they would lose face if they canceled.

"You have to go forward," she says. "For NRA to scrap this and the amount of money that we have spent ..."

"We have meeting insurance," LaPierre replies.

"Screw the insurance," says Hammer. "The message that it will send is that even the NRA was brought to its knees, and the media will have a field day with it."

 

[onlyTheObvious]

Every corporation / organization has meetings to discuss issues that affect image / profits / sales. Outside the box thinking during these meetings is encouraged and a big reason why they have them.

file this under no shit and you must be a fool if you didn’t know.

 

[Morrison71]

We saw a similar reaction from Republicans directly after 01/06. For just a moment, they acted like they cared. They were angry. They spoke out against it. Some even blamed Trump. Fast forward a month and they had all reversed course. They saw the American people were going to let them get away with it. Americans weren't angry at them.

 

[Rudolph]

Every corporation / organization has meetings to discuss issues that affect image / profits / sales. Outside the box thinking during these meetings is encouraged and a big reason why they have them.

file this under no shit and you must be a fool if you didn’t know.

Not sure that’s the part that bothers most who care to listen/read.

 

[Joes Place]

NRA leaders can also be heard describing the organization's more activist members in surprisingly harsh terms, deriding them as "hillbillies" and "fruitcakes" who might go off script


Hmmmm.....

 

[Rudolph]

NRA leaders can also be heard describing the organization's more activist members in surprisingly harsh terms, deriding them as "hillbillies" and "fruitcakes" who might go off script


Hmmmm.....

Elitist liberals are everywhere.