On December 21 , 2012 , the NRA held a televised media event at Washington 's Willard Hotel located adjacent to the White House at which LaPierre read a 30-minute prepared statement in response to the December 14 , 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting of 27 people , including 20 children between 6 and 7 years old — the deadliest mass shooting in a school in U.S. history . He connected gun violence with " gun-free zones " , violent films and video games , the media , weak databases on mental illness and lax security , and called for armed officers at American schools in an effort to protect children from gun violence . He blamed the video game industry for the shooting , describing it as " a callous , corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells and sows violence against its own people , through vicious , violent video games . " Following the event , several in the media criticized LaPierre 's statements , including the '' Pittsburgh Post-Gazette '' editorial board and '' The Atlantic '' s Jeffrey Goldberg . On December 14 , Rupert Murdoch tweeted , " Terrible news today . When will politicians find courage to ban automatic weapons ? As in Oz after similar tragedy . " After the press release , one of his newspapers , the '' New York Post '' , that is usually considered editorially conservative , labelled LaPierre a " Gun Nut ! " on its December 22 , 2012 cover . The accompanying article which was highly critical of LaPierre statement , described it as " bizarre " . New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that LaPierre 's vision of America was " paranoid " and " dystopian " and portrayed the United States as " dangerous and violent ... where everyone is armed and no place is safe . " In a tweet sent out after one of the funerals , Chris Murphy ( D-Conn . ) , who represents Newtown , said , " Walking out of another funeral and was handed the NRA transcript . The most revolting , tone-deaf statement I 've ever seen . " Others also criticized LaPierre 's remarks , including Republican Party strategist and pollster Frank Luntz and pundit Ann Coulter . In response to LaPierre 's recommendation to protect schools with armed guards , then-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said , " You ca n't make school an armed camp for kids . " In response to the February 14 , 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland , Florida , where 17 students and adults were killed and 14 injured — one of the world 's deadliest school massacres — LaPierre delivered a speech on February 22 at the Conservative Political Action Conference ( CPAC ) held in National Harbor , Maryland , in which he criticized the FBI , the media and gun control advocates . " As usual , the opportunists wasted not one second to exploit tragedy for political gain . The elites do not care one whit about America 's school system and schoolchildren . If they truly cared , what they would do is they would protect them . For them it is not a safety issue , it is a political issue ... Gun control advocates do n't care if their laws work or not . They just want get more laws to get more control over people . But the NRA , the NRA does care . " His reference to " elites " was questioned as some might consider him to be an " elite " , as he is a multimillionaire . He also argued that the constitutional right to keep and bear arms " is not bestowed by man , but granted by God to all Americans as our American birthright . "
Stoneman Douglas High School shooting
Stoneman Douglas High School shooting
Wayne LaPierre