Almost two days after a 29-year-old man killed 49 people and wounded over 50 more using a high-powered AR-15 and handgun in an Orlando nightclub, the NRA has broken its silence on the tragedy that shocked the nation.
Using USA Today as a pulpit, former congressman and current executive director of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action Chris Cox unsurprisingly laid the blame for the shooting on the Obama administration.
After briefly condemning that attack, Cox turned to condemning what he called "political correctness" that he believes allowed former security contractor Omar Mateen to open fire on a crowded nightclub dance floor.
According to the NRA, lawmakers who want to put in place more effective gun control laws are "desperate to create the illusion that they’re doing something to protect us."
"This transparent head-fake should scare every American, because it will do nothing to prevent the next attack," Cox wrote. "The terrorist in Orlando had been investigated multiple times by the FBI. He had a government-approved security guard license with a contractor for the Department of Homeland Security. Yet his former co-workers reported violent and racist comments. Unfortunately, the Obama administration’s political correctness prevented anything from being done about it."
Cox omitted the NRA's stance against proposed legislation that would have prevented suspected terrorists from legally buying guns -- a bill that was shot down by Republicans last December.
Disregarding gun related attacks at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 that claimed the lives of 26, including 20 six-year-old children, and the 2013 Virginia Tech shooting by a student that took 32 lives -- the previous record holder for a mass shooting in the U.S. -- Cox instead said lawmakers should instead focus on Islamic extremists.
"It’s time for us to admit that radical Islam is a hate crime waiting to happen. The only way to defeat them is to destroy them — not destroy the right of law-abiding Americans to defend ourselves," Cox wrote.