The NRA has placed a moratorium on its social media presence, going silent on Twitter and Facebook in the wake of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Conn. Friday that left 20 children and six adults dead in the second-deadliest school shooting ever, numerous outlets are reporting.
The association has fallen silent on social media following its last tweet from the NRA's main account at 9:36 a.m. Dec. 14. Shortly before news of the shooting broke, the account announced, "10 Days of NRA Giveaways - Enter today for a chance to win an auto emergency tool!"
Not long after outlets began reporting on the tragedy, the NRA's final post earned dozens of outraged responses.
"Can it help out with school shootings? RT," replied one user.
"So looks like @NRA and @NRANews are both still silent. Please stay that way in the political arena and let common sense prevail #GunControl," replied another.
Friday Lanza reportedly shot his mother, Nancy Lanza, packed at least three of her guns, and then drove her car to the Connecticut K-4 elementary school, opening fire in two classrooms around 9:30 a.m., police said. Police are still searching for a motive; witnesses said the shooter didn't utter a word.
Investigators believe Lanza attended the school several years ago but appeared to have no recent connection to it, said a law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity.
Officials speaking under the condition of anonymity say Lanza had to force his way into the school. According to police, the three guns used in the shooting were legally purchased and registered to his mother Nancy. Lanza reportedly primarily used a Bushmaster .223 assault rifle while on the rampage.
Investigators questioned Lanza's older brother, 24-year-old Ryan Lanza, of Hoboken, N.J., for hours Friday and searched his computers and phone records, but he told law enforcement he had not been in touch with his brother since about 2010. Police say he is not a suspect in the case.
Since news spread of the horrific event, the normally vocal NRA hasn't said a peep. The association's Facebook page -- which celebrated 1.7 million fans Thursday -- has disappeared entirely, it makes no mention of the shooting on its website, none of its leaders have spoken out to the media to support the Second Amendment, and it has quit posting on all three of its Twitter accounts.
"The move is unusual in the hypersensitive world of organizational PR, but it's not unprecedented. Over the summer, the NRA deleted its magazine account, @NRA_Rifleman, to minimize attention after the Aurora movie theater shootings," said the Washington Post.
As the Associated Press notes, the Connecticut shootings occurred just three days after the incident at a mall in Oregon.
"The NRA's probably doing a good thing by laying low," said Hogan Gidley, a Republican strategist and gun owner, in an interview with AP. "Often after these tragedies, so many look to lay blame on someone, and the NRA is an easy whipping boy for this."
The group's silence likely also has something to do with President Barack Obama's recent speech calling for "meaningful action" in the gun control debate.
"In the coming weeks, I will use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens -- from law enforcement to mental health professionals to parents and educators -- in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this," Obama said at a Sunday night prayer vigil at Newtown.
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