6 Things the NRA Didn’t Blame for Mass Shootings

Video games and Hurricane Sandy made the list. Adam Lanza’s Bushmaster didn’t.


In this morning’s National Rifle Association (NRA) press conference, Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre found a lot of things to blame for the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, many of them rehashed from the NRA’s past responses to mass shootings. Video games, the absence of armed policemen in schools, and pure evil made the list, as did Hurricane Sandy.

Here’s what LaPierre didn’t blame:

.223 BUSHMASTER SEMI-AUTOMATIC ASSAULT RIFLE

The weapon used by Adam Lanza when he massacred 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, according to the medical examiner (December, 2012). 

 

.223-CALIBER SMITH & WESSON M&P15

One of the weapons used by James Holmes at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, that killed and injured a total of 70 people (July, 2012).

 

.40-CALIBER GLOCK

The weapon used by Jeffrey Weise, who murdered nine people and wounded five others on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota (March, 2005).

 

GLOCK 19 SEMI-AUTOMATIC PISTOL

One of the weapons used by Seung-Hui Cho, who injured and killed 56 people at the Virginia Tech campus (April, 2007).

 

7.62 mm AK-47 Chinese variant

The weapon used by former Caltrans employee Arturo Reyes Torres, who opened fire at a maintenance yard, killing five and injuring two.

 

INTRATEC TEC-9 PISTOL

One of the weapons used by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who opened fire in Columbine High School, injuring and killing 39 (April, 1999).
 

DECEMBER IS MAKE OR BREAK

A full one-third of our annual fundraising comes in this month alone. That’s risky, because a strong December means our newsroom is on the beat and reporting at full strength—but a weak one means budget cuts and hard choices ahead.

The December 31 deadline is closing in fast. To reach our $400,000 goal, we need readers who’ve never given before to join the ranks of MoJo donors. And we need our steadfast supporters to give again—any amount today.

Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do.

That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

DECEMBER IS MAKE OR BREAK

A full one-third of our annual fundraising comes in this month alone. That’s risky, because a strong December means our newsroom is on the beat and reporting at full strength—but a weak one means budget cuts and hard choices ahead.

The December 31 deadline is closing in fast. To reach our $400,000 goal, we need readers who’ve never given before to join the ranks of MoJo donors. And we need our steadfast supporters to give again—any amount today.

Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do.

That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate