As police in Illinois hunted America’s newest mass shooter on Monday, the National Rifle Association left up a tweet crediting “armed citizens” for Independence Day.
“The only reason you’re celebrating Independence Day is because citizens were armed,” mentioned the tweet, posted early within the day and nonetheless up Monday night.
In Highland Park, Illinois, at the very least six individuals won’t ever once more have a good time July Fourth as a result of they had been killed by a lone “armed citizen,” who, in accordance with police, fired from a rooftop right into a Fourth of July parade. Dozens of others had been injured.
The NRA tweet remained up whereas residents of the city had been sheltering in place in the course of the manhunt for the shooter.
A tweet by one other lobbying group, the Gun Owners of America, was probably much more tasteless.
“This long weekend brought to you by armed citizens,” gushed the message. The group both wasn’t conscious that different residents’ vacation weekends had been completely terminated — or didn’t care.
Meanwhile, state Sen. Darren Bailey, the GOP nominee for Illinois governor who was just lately endorsed by Donald Trump, recommended in a video after the capturing that folks “move on and celebrate the independence of this nation!”
As individuals waved marketing campaign indicators for Bailey within the clip, he did recommend praying for the households of the victims and legislation enforcement.
After critical blowback, Bailey’s workplace launched a press release from the politician saying: “I apologize if in any way we diminished the pain being felt across our state today.”
“I am heartbroken by today’s tragic events and the pain and loss felt by so many. My intent was to pray for the victims and those affected by today’s tragedy and for the shooter to be caught and prosecuted without further loss,” the assertion learn.
In 2020, Bailey’s staff held a fundraiser featuring a raffle for a semi-automatic rifle, Vice reported on Monday.
