The NRA has a plan. It’s happening now.
They know it.
We (mostly) know it.
A mass shooting occurs inside a school. People cry, shout, scream, demand change, blame the NRA, Tweet out photos of politicians with blood coating their hands. People insist we need to do better, note other countries where this doesn’t happen, wave flags, march in the streets.
The NRA stays silent.
That’s the plan. And it’s genius, because it always works.
The NRA knows it can’t win this PR battle. So it doesn’t even try. It hangs back while continuing to pay off lawmakers. Behind the scenes they’ll start making the necessary calls in the coming days—”How’s the campaign going? You got enough funding?” They’ll remind anyone on the fence that the other side of the barrier is filled with shards of glass and brick. You don’t want to go there.
Eventually, they’ll emerge. They’ll insist we need an armed guard in every school, while simultaneously pushing for some do-nothing legislative change (bump stocks!) that either won’t go through or won’t do squat. They’ll appear on Fox’s lineup of shows, as the lemmings like Hannity and Laura nod and agree and roar over mental health.
Then, in a month or so, we’ll have another mass shooting. Might be at a school. Might be at a theme park or movie theater.
But we’ll have one.
And the cycle will begin again.
