Originally Posted by m4a1mustang

The more I think about it the more I feel like the press conference today was a complete failure and more than likely weakens any future NRA effort to combat gun control legislation.

At the core of the press conference the NRA did two things:

1) They completely ignored the debate over gun control which is swallowing the nation whole at the moment

2) They attempted to deflect to and place the blame on a lack of school security using the incredibly unrealistic idea of having qualified, armed guards in schools.

Given the number of schools in the US (something on the order of 130k+) there is no way every locality will be able to afford qualified, armed security personnel for schools. I think this is an idea that will broadly be laughed at and torn apart by most. It's unfeasible.

The real issue at hand is gun control. Specifically, that gun control DOES NOT work.

The NRA should have taken this time to address the debate at hand and lay out the facts. Gun control doesn't work. It hasn't worked. And it will never work.

And explain WHY.

Explain that the vast majority (99.9999%) of gun owners are LAW ABIDING CITIZENS that only want to be able to 1) enjoy a Constitutional right, 2) engage in lawful sporting activity, and 3) have a means to defend themselves and their families.

Explain that only a small percentage (less than 5%) of firearms used in crimes were purchased legally.

Explain that a semi-automatic AR-15 "assault rifle" is no more dangerous than a standard hunting rifle or handgun, and that those that choose to inflict mass damage on soft targets would be able to do so with ANY weapon.

Explain that the Sandy Hook shooting likely would not have occurred had Nancy Lanza secured her weapons in safes so that her son could not access them.

The NRA should have urged Federal lawmakers to ensure that our EXISTING gun laws are properly enforced.

The NRA should have spent a little more time discussing mental health, and that if our mental health system was not broken (And properly integrated with background check databases) that firearms likely would not have been sold to Cho or the Aurora shooter among others.

This was a prime time for the NRA to lay out the unarguable fact that, statistically, legally purchased guns are safe and law-abiding gun owners are no threat to society.

Instead, they blew it by wasting a lot of time on a useless plan. They would have been better off staying quiet.