Newtown Gun Violence Prevention Advocates Protest SHOT Show Tuesday

Newtown Action Alliance, Sandy Hook School Educators for Gun Sense and GunFreeKids.org held a press conference and rally on Tuesday “to expose the reality of the annual Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show,” the group said in a press release.

The SHOT Show opened Tuesday morning in Las Vegas and is hosted by the Newtown-based National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).

Newtown Action Alliance, a grassroots organization formed after the tragic shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, joined gun safety groups in front of NSSF headquarters in Newtown to protest the group’s “record of marketing military-style weapons while obstructing common-sense legislation that would help create safer communities,” NAA said in a statement.

Po Murray, Chairman of the NAA said, “The National Shooting Sports Foundation has an opportunity to become a responsible industry trade association. Last year at this time, we called on NSSF to support expanded background checks, to stop its aggressive marketing of semiautomatic assault weapons, cease marketing of guns for children, and take on an overall responsible and collaborative role in combating gun violence.”

Abbey Clements is a Sandy Hook Elementary School teacher and survivor of the December 14, 2012 shootings. She is also a member of Sandy Hook School Educators for Gun Sense. Clements said, “The NSSF and its members have opposed all common sense legislative changes to make our communities safer from gun violence. We don’t want our money supporting gun makers that use it to lobby against stronger gun laws supported by most Americans.”

Dozens came out to the peaceful protest in front of the NSSF’s headquarters. One child held a sign that read, “NSSF, the scariest place in Newtown.”

The NSSF’s headquarters on Mile Hill Road are three miles away from the former site of Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dickenson Drive.

The Executive Director of another gun safety advocacy group, Ron Pinciaro, of Connecticut Against Gun Violence said the NSSF should “reconsider its role” in the community and “work to end the adversarial relationship.”

Andy Pelosi from Gunfreekids.org stated, “It’s no secret that the gun industry is being threatened by a long-term declining participation in the shooting sports. The gun industry knows that they have to ‘start them young,’ otherwise they will continue to see their profits drop.”

Photo: Newtown Action Alliance/Facebook

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• Adam Lanza: Report Probes Dark Interior Life of The Sandy Hook Shooter

• Report: Sandy Hook Shooter Encouraged by ‘Cyber Community of Mass Murder Enthusiasts’

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